


An Unexpected Development

by LifeOfClaude



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: 21st Century, AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 05:01:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7963408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LifeOfClaude/pseuds/LifeOfClaude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Star Trek AU - 21st Century).<br/>Leonard McCoy is living his day-to-day routine as an on call doctor in the city of Atlanta, doing his best to raise Joanna, but then he gets a new neighbour - a nineteen-year-old neighbour, with a Russian accent, and head of curly hair. Of all the people Leonard thought he may get involved with one day, Pavel Chekov had never been one of them. Until now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Neighbour

**Joanna McCoy [4:03pm]**  
_Can't wait 2 c u 2morro daddy! Xx_  
  
  
Leonard McCoy smiled down at the text message he had just received and slowly typed a reply with one thumb. As much as he enjoyed receiving these sorts of messages from his daughter, he also couldn’t believe his ex-wife, Pamela, had bought their 11-year-old a mobile phone already. Yes, she was in her final year of Elementary School, but why that meant she needed a cell was really beyond Leonard. He  _was_  a bit of a technophobe, though. His own phone, which Joanna called a “brick”, was 10 years old. Hey, it still worked just fine.

 

After the divorce, Pamela had at least agreed on them having joint custody of their daughter. However, she did get the house, pretty much all of the money, and both of their cars. Leonard had been left with his Doctorate in Medicine, what little money he had of his own, and the court’s permission to have his daughter live with him one week on, one week off. During the first year, Leonard had all but drunk himself into a permanent stupor. It wasn’t until his best friend, Jim Kirk, had eventually managed to give him a good slap in the face (quite literally), and force him back into shape for his daughter’s sake.

 

God knew he owed Jim a lot for everything. They met when Leonard had first started Med School in Mississippi; Jim was on the same campus studying Psychology. They became very fast friends after Leonard had to carry Jim back to his dorm room one night after a heavy night of drinking. They hadn’t even been drinking  _together_ ; Leonard just happened to stumble across this very intoxicated kid trying to make his way back to the dormitories, and decided to help him. He was glad he did, because said drunken kid was now the Godfather – and doting babysitter – of his child.

 

He also met Pamela at Med School. Leonard could have sworn it was love at first sight, like from one of those movies. He walked into the campus café one morning, and saw her waiting in the queue. She was ridiculously gorgeous, with long red hair and sporting jeans with a flannel shirt. Leonard couldn’t have stopped himself from immediately asking her out on a date if he had tried; he was just damn lucky she said yes.

 

They fell in love very quickly; easily. And so, when she announced one morning over breakfast that she was quitting Med School because she was pregnant, the two of them were actually excited. They were young and naïve. They got married straight away; a small service with friends. Things seemed perfect at first; they had Joanna, Pamela decided to be a stay at home mother in their tiny apartment, and Leonard pursued his dream career with the support of his new wife. Of course, this didn’t last.

 

Leonard sighed as he got caught up in old memories like he always did. He was inside his apartment building now; he had been living there for a good two years. It was fairly nice, for the most part. The other residents weren’t loud, for starters, and there was a pool for Joanna to swim in. It was definitely good enough for the time being whilst Leonard did his best to save up for a house deposit, anyway. His job as an on-call doctor at the Emory Hospital certainly wasn’t  _bad_  pay; it was more than enough to live comfortably on. However, he just wanted the best for his daughter, and to him that wasn’t living in an apartment in the middle of Atlanta. Ideally, they would be in his hometown, Fargo, where Joanna could grow up in a more rural area without the hustle and bustle of the city.

 

Leonard pushed the button for the elevator, ready to go up to his own apartment. Shortly after, it dinged open and he stepped inside.

 

“ _Vait_!” A thickly accented shriek sounded. “Please! Hold ze door!”

 

Pressing the button inside the elevator to keep the door from shutting, Leonard then turned around to see a blur of curly hair rushing into the small space before time was up again. Once the person had come to halt inside the elevator, Leonard was able to observe a young male carrying an enormous pile of books. He had two satchels, one on each shoulder, and was looking rather frazzled to say the least. Acting instinctively, Leonard reached out to take a small handful of the text books to lighten the load for the poor kid.

 

“Ah, zhank you!” He exclaimed with a wide smile. “Vould you mind pushing for lewel  _tehvell_?”

 

Level twelve? He thought that’s what he heard. Huh, same floor as Leonard. He complied, but didn’t actually respond with any form of conversation, simply continued to stand silently. The kid had a pretty strong accent. Russian, maybe?  
  
  
  
He hadn’t seen this kid around before, so he must be new to the building. Probably living with his parents, too. He couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen years old. He certainly looked that young, with honey brown curls spilling over his forehead, and rosy cheeks below twinkling, green eyes.

 

“My name is Pavel Chekov, by ze vay.” The young kid offered cheerfully. “Might I ask your name?”

 

Leonard kept his gaze on the metal doors. “Doctor Leonard McCoy. Haven’t seen you around before, kid.”

 

“Yes, I just moowed in yesterday. I am studying at ze uniwersity not far from here; Georgia Institute of Technology.”

 

The door pinged open, and Leonard stepped out with Pavel Chekov trailing close behind. He decided it would be best to just follow the kid, since he was still carrying his books for him. Much to his surprise though, Pavel stopped almost right outside Leonard’s apartment. He gave the kid a quizzical look.

 

“Zis is my apartment: 208.” Pavel said simply.

 

Leonard raised an eyebrow. Weird. “Right. Well, I’m 209. Next door.”

 

Pavel beamed. “Vonderful! Ve are neighbours!”

 

God, how did this kid have so much energy? Leonard truly didn’t understand teenagers, sometimes. He envied their youth and optimism. Oh, to be young and naïve again.

 

Pavel had opened his door. “Zhank you again for helping me. Please just put ze books back onto ze pile, I vill manage now.”

 

Leonard again silently obeyed, and turned to unlock the door of his own apartment when he felt a small hand tap on his shoulder. He twisted around to see Pavel grinning up at him yet again, his green eyes twinkling a little bit. Leonard fought the urge to roll his own eyes as a response to them.

 

“I hope to see you around Doctor McCoy! It is nice to have already made an acquaintance.”

 

Leonard just shrugged. “Sure, kid. I’m sure you will. Call me Leonard.”

 

“ _Leonid_.” Pavel replied, accent even thicker than before. And then he was gone. 

 

* * *

 

 

Leonard watched from his car the next day as the large groups of students, all ages and sizes, began to pour out from the school gates. It was a few more moments before he spotted Joanna, and then immediately he hopped out of the car to go over to her. He was greeted with a hug, and he returned it affectionately before ceremoniously taking her backpack for her, slinging it over his shoulder.

 

“How was school, darlin’?” Leonard asked once they were in the car.

 

Joanna buckled her seatbelt. “Yeah, it was pretty good. I’m really liking science class. We’re doing stuff on animal health at the moment.”

 

“Good to know you’re following in your old man’s footsteps.” He chuckled. “… And ah, how’s your Momma?”

 

Leonard always tried his best to ask after Pamela as nicely as he could, still referring to her as “Momma” for Joanna’s sake. Even though he was still very hurt over their divorce, he forced himself to pretend that everything was civilised and okay. His daughter deserved that.

 

“Momma’s good. She has this friend that comes over a lot.” Joanna said nonchalantly.

 

Leonard felt his grip tighten on the steering wheel. “Oh. Right. That’s uh… Good.”

 

Of course Pamela had yet another boyfriend. This was her fourth one since the divorce, to be exact. Leonard, however, had barely been able to look at another woman. Jim had tried to take him out a few times in encouragement, but he knew that if he did that, it would most likely end up being a one-night stand, and that wasn’t really his style. He couldn’t help himself; he got romantically attached quite quickly when it came to sex. So, he figured he would just stop all that and wait for a new person to come along eventually.

 

They pulled into the parking lot of the apartment and climbed out of the car. Again, Leonard took Joanna’s bag for her and walked her into the building, hand protectively resting on the back of her neck. She had recently decided she was too old to still “hold her Daddy’s hand”, so he had to settle for this. It was hard to believe his baby girl was growing up this quickly.

 

They had barely stepped two metres into the main lobby when a familiar curly-headed young man emerged from the elevator. Leonard knew they lived in the same building, next door to each other in fact, but he still couldn’t believe they were already bumping into each other again. Pavel smiled over at him with a wave, and made a direct line for them. Leonard took a brief moment to take in the kid’s outfit: skinny-leg jeans with Doc Marten boots, as well as an  _Against Me!_  t-shirt. Very… Punk?

 

“Leonid!” He greeted, chirpy. Then he squatted a little to grin at Joanna. “Hello! Who might you be?”

 

Joanna was shy at the best of times, but right now she was going bright red and for the first time in a while, grabbed for Leonard’s hand. He was silently thankful that her coyness had caused her to want to be close to him and he squeezed it tightly.

 

“Joanna, this is Mr Chekov. He’s our new neighbour.” He said to her gently, before facing Pavel. “This is my daughter.”

 

She blushed a bit more before answering, “Hi…”

 

“Vell hello there, Joanna. I insist zat you call me Pavel!” He didn’t seem phased by this at all.

 

“I-I’m eleven,” she suddenly gained in confidence. “I’m in my final year of Elementary.”

 

“Vhoa! Zat is excellent. I myself, am nineteen. I study at uniwersity.”

 

Joanna cocked her head. “You have an accent.”

 

“Joanna!” Leonard scolded. “That’s not very polite.”

  
  
“Sorry…”

  
Pavel was quick to intervene. “It is quite alright! I do hawe an accent. I am Russian. Zhough I am sure my name giwes it away, no?” He chuckled.

 

“Where in Russia are you from?” Joanna asked curiously.

 

Oh no. It was about to start; Jo was about to talk the poor kid’s ear off. Once she got over her initial shyness, she was an absolute chatterbox. And as much as he encouraged her to be social, in the middle of the apartment lobby, with a person who was close to a stranger, really wasn’t quite what Leonard had in mind.

 

He smiled stiffly at Pavel. “Sorry, kid, we really ought to get going. Joanna has homework.”

 

“Of course.” The kid nodded. “It is wery important zat you study hard, Joanna!”

 

Joanna blushed yet again. “I will, Pavel. Then one day I can go to University with you!”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes fondly. “Come on, Jo. Let’s get going. See you later, Pavel.”  
  
  
  
Pavel waved at them on his way out of the lobby, and Leonard led Joanna over to the elevator. As they rode up to their apartment, Joanna was chatting excitedly about Pavel. She seemed to have taken to the kid instantly, stating she “really liked his fashion sense”, and could she “please also get a pair of boots like that?”. Leonard smiled at his daughter warmly, and promised he would consider getting her some Doc Martens for her birthday. That seemed to be enough for now.

 

As Leonard pushed the key into the door of their apartment and opened it, he was greeted by the sound of music coming faintly from the kitchen. It seemed to be some type of rock music – possibly The Beastie Boys – which could only mean one thing.

 

“Jim?” He called out.

 

“Kitchen, Bones!”

 

Leonard smiled at his nickname; Jim was the only one who was allowed to call him that. He literally got the nickname because he was studying to be a doctor, and Jim deemed it appropriate. Leonard originally hated the term of endearment, but Jim isn’t the sort of guy you can say no to easily, so it ended up sticking throughout their still-going-strong friendship of 12 years.

 

He dropped his keys into the bowl in the hallway, and made his way through to the kitchen with Joanna close behind. Leonard had assumed correctly about The Beastie Boys, and rolled his eyes when he recognised the song playing as “Sabotage”, one of Jim’s all-time favourites. His best friend was chopping salad vegetables at the bench, and Leonard could smell something delicious cooking in a frying pan on the stove.

 

“Uncle Jim!” Joanna exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

 

Jim stopped his chopping to give her a hug. “Well, your dad works such long days, and I knew you were coming today for your weekly stay, so I thought I’d come cook for you guys!”

 

Leonard smiled gratefully at him. “And here I was constantly regretting letting you have a spare key. What’s on the menu?”  
  
  
  
“Come on, Bones, you know I’m only any good at making tacos. What else?” He grinned.  
  
  
  
This seemed to please Joanna, and her whole face lit up at the very word. For a girl who grew up in a rural place in Georgia, eating a lot of typical Southern food, she really was starting to develop quite an eclectic culinary taste. Mexican food, for example, was her latest favourite; especially Jim’s tacos. She went to the fridge and got herself the bottle of orange juice, pouring a glass.  
  
  
  
“So what’s new, Jo?” Jim switched the music off and returned to his cooking.  
  
  
  
She put her glass down and wiped pulp from her mouth. “We have a new neighbour,”  
  
  
  
“Oh yeah?”  
  
  
  
“He has cool boots. Daddy’s gonna get me some for my birthday.”  
  
  
  
Jim smirked at Leonard. “Is that right,  _Daddy_?”  
  
  
  
“I said I’d consider it,” Leonard rolled his eyes. “Come on, Jo, you’d better start your homework if you want to use the computer after dinner.”  
  
  
  
She grumbled a little, just like any eleven year old would, but took her bag that Leonard had placed by the kitchen table and went off to her bedroom. Leonard made himself useful by retrieving plates from the cupboards, and went to check on the taco mince. Jim was putting the salad into separate bowls, starting to grate the cheese, so Leonard got the box of taco shells out and put them into the microwave to heat them up.

 

Jim got himself a beer from the fridge and leaned against the counter. “New neighbour, huh?” He asked, smirking. “With cool boots, apparently.”

 

“Yep. He’s some kid that’s studying at Georgia Tech up the road. Says he’s nineteen, but I swear he doesn’t look a day over twelve.”  
  
  
  
“Oh yeah, I know Georgia Tech. Spock works there.” Jim’s cheeks coloured a little.  
  
  
  
Leonard quirked an eyebrow. “Spock?”  
  
  
  
“A guy I’m seeing,”  
  
  
  
“… And his name is actually Spock?”  
  
  
  
Jim shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s his last name. He’s from somewhere foreign, and he did tell me his first name but I couldn’t pronounce it if I tried. So, he lets me call him Spock.”  
  
  
  
Leonard took the taco shells from the microwave and switched the stove off, bringing the ingredients over to the kitchen bench. He watched in amusement as Jim piled about four of the damn shells onto his own plate, and began making his tacos. He called for Joanna, who responded to let them know she’d be “five more minutes”, and started the process of creating his own dinner. Jim took his plate to the table and sat down, seemingly too hungry to wait for anyone else. It was only just going five o’clock, too, so it was a pretty early dinner for all of them. But, Leonard was hungry, and if Joanna was too, he couldn’t begrudge her an early meal.

 

“So, this Spock. You been seeing him long?” Leonard asked, sitting across from Jim.  
  
  
  
Jim bit into his second taco. “Few weeks. Met him online through his girlfriend.”  
  
  
  
“…What? The guy you’re seeing has a  _girlfriend_?”  
  
  
  
“Yeah. Polyamorous relationship. The deal is we both share him.”  
  
  
  
Leonard tried to wrap his head around this. “And are you seeing this girl, too?”  
  
  
  
“Nah,” Jim said with a wave of his hand. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s totally hot. But the only guy she’s interested in is Spock, and then she also has a girlfriend. Let’s put it this way, I’m dating Spock, so is she, and she also has a girlfriend.”  
  
  
  
“I… Right. Okay. I’m not even gonna try working that one out. You do what you want, Jim.”  
  
  
  
Jim grinned. “You judging me, Bones?”  
  
  
  
“Of course not,” Leonard replied quickly. “Just not something I could ever do; gotta be monogamous for me.”  
  
  
  
“Okay, I’ve done half of my homework,” Joanna announced, entering the room. “Can I finish it  _after_  my computer time?”  
  
  
  
Leonard shook his head firmly. “You know the rules, Jo: homework,  _then_  computer time.”  
  
  
  
She huffed, but didn’t bother to argue, and started to make her own dinner before taking a seat and joining Leonard and Jim at the table. They fell into easy conversation about how everyone’s day had been. Joanna talked more about the science class she was interested in, Leonard briefly spoke about some patients he had seen to, and Jim couldn’t really talk about his own work, being a clinical psychologist and all, but he listened to everyone else eagerly and joined in on the banter.

 

“So Jo,” Jim said, a twinkle in his eyes. “Tell me more about this neighbour. Is he cuuuuuute?”

 

Joanna immediately went bright red. “Uncle Jim!”

 

Leonard chuckled. “Leave her alone, Jim. She’s eleven; she’s not allowed to like boys until she’s thirty-three!”

 

“Daddy!” Joanna protested. “That’s ages away! I can’t wait  _that_  long!”  
  
  
  
“What’s his name, Jo?”  
  
  
  
“His name is Pavel Chekov,” she said slowly, as if trying to make sure she pronounced it correctly.  
  
  
  
Recognition washed over Jim’s face. “Chekov? I swear he’s one of Spock’s students. Curly hair? Russian?”

 

“That’s the one,” Leonard confirmed.

 

“Apparently he’s a real whiz kid. Into physics and astronomy and all that. ‘ _A mathematical genius’_ , is how Spock described him.”

 

Leonard raised his eyebrows in surprise. To be perfectly honest, based on the kid’s attire, he had pinned him as maybe an Arts student of some description. He had looked and seemed quite quirky to Leonard, but hey, it just went to show you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and all that. It was pretty impressive that he was so talented with things like maths and physics at the young age of nineteen. Leonard would have to remember to ask Pavel about that the next time they ran into each other.

 

After dinner, Jim and Leonard cleaned up all of the dishes together, despite Jim trying to convince him to “use the dishwasher” for once. But Leonard was adamant on doing it themselves, because really, it wouldn’t kill Jim to wash some dishes for once. Joanna was finishing up her homework, and so Leonard took the opportunity to pry into Jim’s personal life again.

 

“So what’s this Spock like?” He asked, scrubbing a pan and handing it to Jim to dry.

 

“You jealous Bones?” Jim grinned, and Leonard rolled his eyes. “He’s really brilliant. A bit on the serious side, but I swear man, that intellect of his is  _such_  a turn on.”

 

“I should have guessed you’d already slept with him,”

 

“Well that’s where you’d be wrong, Bones! We actually haven’t yet.”

 

Leonard stopped what he was doing to stare at his friend. “Seriously? Mr Jim ‘ _I’ll-Sleep-With-Anything-That-Moves’_ Kirk hasn’t slept with him yet?”

 

Jim crossed his arms defensively. “Come on, man. I know I’m a bit promiscuous, but I am capable of dating.”

 

“Good God,” Leonard said slowly. “You actually really  _like_  this guy, don’t you?!”

 

Jim was glaring now. “Yes, Bones, I do! I’d appreciate a little more support, too. This is… This is new for me. I’m kinda terrified.” He sighed. “Which sounds kinda stupid coming from a professional psych, but hey. I’m still human.”

 

Leonard pulled the plug from the sink and dried his hands on the tea towel before refolding it and placing it back over the oven-door handle. He took a seat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar and stared at Jim for a moment who was looking a little vulnerable, but mostly still defensive. He smiled softly at his best friend who edged closer to the bench.

 

“Hey. I’m sorry, alright? This must be pretty overwhelming.”

 

Jim’s demeanour softened. “It is. I care about him, Bones. I dunno what it is, but I just really hope things work with this guy.”

 

“I still can’t believe you share him with another woman, though. That would drive me crazy.”

 

“Eh, I’m open to see other people if I want as well, so it’s all fine. It’s just this one, big, open relationship. I like it.”

 

Leonard nodded. “So long as you’re happy, it’s fine with me.”

 

“And what about your love life, huh?” Jim teased. “Gonna go after that cute little Russian neighbour of yours?”

 

Leonard scowled. “Jim, he’s  _nineteen_. He’s probably got five girlfriends and boyfriends of his own. Plus, in case you’ve forgotten, I have an eleven-year-old daughter. Who most likely has a  _crush_  on the damn kid.”

 

Jim just cackled. “Yeah, she sure does seem pretty taken by him. Kinda sweet, really. Little Jo is growing up.”

 

“Don’t remind me…” Leonard grumbled.

 

They continued to chat a while longer, and then Jim announced that he had to go – a date with Spock apparently. He said a quick goodbye to Joanna who was now in the study on the computer, and then came back out to leave. Leonard followed him through the front hallway and stood at the open door with him. Jim gave him a quick, tight hug, to which Leonard awkwardly returned with a pat on his back.

 

“Good to see you, Bones,” he smiled fondly. “Probably drop by later this week.”

 

“Sure, sounds good. Jo loves to see you, too.”

 

Jim looked like he was about to turn and leave, when he spoke again. “Bones… I think it’s time you tried to move on; see somebody else. I think you’re ready, and you deserve to be happy.”  
  
  
  
Leonard crossed his arms with a slight blush. “Thanks, Jim. I’ll keep that in mind. Have a good night with Spock.”

 

“Night.”

 

Leonard closed the door, locked it, and went back into the apartment. He quickly ducked into the study to check on Joanna who was watching YouTube videos of baby animals, and left once he was satisfied with her Internet content. Inside the kitchen again, he flipped the kettle on with the intention of making a cup of tea, and leaned against the bench with his arms folded over his chest, deep in thought. Maybe Jim was right; he should try to move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be writing in Pavel's accent in future chapters, because I find it distracting to write and read! I only wrote it in this first chapter, because it's Leonard's POV and it's an accent he probably isn't used to, and I wanted to accentuate that.


	2. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pavel and Leonard continue to run into each other, and Leonard attends a "club meeting".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Hey all! I updated, at the request of many.  
> Thanks so much for the positive feedback, it means a lot.  
> Enjoy!

“Doctor McCoy! Good morning!”  
  
  
Leonard was barely out of his apartment that morning when that chirpy Russian accent had greeted him. He was on-call, Joanna was back with Pamela, and he had been asked to start work at 6am. With a sigh – not feeling very cheery at _five-thirty in the damn morning_ – he turned to his right to see Pavel grinning at him, seemingly having just exited his own apartment. He was dressed in a grey Georgia Tech hooded sweatshirt, bright yellow running shorts, and some high-top Converse sneakers. He also had earphones in his ears, and as he pulled one out, the sound of some sort of electronic pop music could be heard. Leonard raised an eyebrow. Was this kid seriously about to go running at this time? Was he actually insane?

 

Leonard barely tried to hide his grouchiness. “Can hardly call it good _this_ early,”

 

Pavel just chuckled and followed him to the elevator where they stood in silence for a moment. He removed the other earphone and pulled his iPhone out, pausing his music. Leonard sighed; Pavel obviously wanted to chat with him. His guess was right, too, because the kid suddenly turned to him and tried to engage in conversation about why Leonard was also up so early. Pavel was explaining that he liked to run every morning, when Leonard finally turned to face the kid and noticed something different about him. A tiny silver ring was now hooped into the left side of the kid’s nose. It hadn’t been there the other day when he last saw him, so Leonard could only assume Pavel had gotten the piercing yesterday.  
  
  
  
“Why the hell would you want to stick a needle in your damn nose?!” He interrupted.  
  
  
  
Pavel looked momentarily shocked by the rude interjection, but regained his usual cheeriness quickly. “You do not like my nose ring, Leonid?” He grinned.  
  
  
  
“Can’t say I’m a fan,” he grimaced. “God, I can’t wait until Joanna sees that and I have to explain to her why an eleven-year-old can’t get her nose pierced.”  
  
  
  
“You would have to do that?” Pavel laughed, stepping out of the elevator. “She would really be that influenced by me?”  
  
  
  
“Kid, she already asked me for a pair of Doc Martens for her birthday.”  
  
  
  
“She has good taste!”  
  
  
  
Leonard rolled his eyes as they walked through the lobby toward the main doors. It had been just over a week since Pavel moved into the apartment next door to he and Joanna. They ran into him almost constantly, as to be expected. Whether it was simply taking Jo to school, collecting the mail, or using the laundry room, Pavel Chekov never seemed to be too far away. This was something Joanna absolutely loved. She thought Pavel was just wonderful. It was a constant Pavel this, Pavel that. Leonard knew she had a fully-fledged crush on the kid, and the thought of his eleven-year-old daughter liking boys already was near enough to give him a damn heart attack.  
  
  
  
Out on the street, Pavel had placed one earphone back in. “I suppose I shall see you later, maybe!”  
  
  
  
“Yep, probably. Have a good run,”  
  
  
  
“Try to enjoy your shift!”  
  
  
  
Leonard watched him jog through the small parking lot and out onto the street full of youth and energy. Probably sunshine and God damned daisies, too, Leonard thought. He stood there dumbly for a moment, watching the last of Pavel’s shorts and sneakers disappear around the street corner and caught himself staring a little too long. Shaking his head clear, Leonard headed over to his car and climbed into the driver’s seat. He rubbed a hand over his face, sighing deeply. Well, duty calls.

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
  
Leonard felt incredibly thankful when 11am rolled around, and he was relieved by a sweet young nurse who told him another on-call doctor had just arrived, and that he really ought to go and get himself a coffee. Damn, did he need one, too after working in the ED all morning. There was a decent sized Starbucks around the corner of the hospital that had relatively fast baristas, which was much more preferable to the tiny and often busy café they had in the hospital. So, having made a decision, Leonard made his way down to the front entrance and exited the building.

 

It was a fairly nice day, he decided; 68 degrees with a few clouds in the sky. There was a soft breeze, and Leonard would have smiled at the pleasant weather if he wasn’t so damn tired. He continued his walk, enjoying the somewhat fresh air of the city, and before he knew it he had reached the café with the big green and white logo on the windows. Inside, he quickly joined the queue and waited patiently.

 

He gave the girl at the register his order a few moments later. “Tall long black for McCoy, please.”  
  
  
  
She smiled at him pleasantly, took his money, and assured that his order would be ready very soon. He nodded his appreciation and moved toward the little waiting area, plucking a plastic lid from the pile and fiddling with it as he awaited his drink. It wasn’t too long before the steaming hot beverage was placed into his hands, and he stuck the lid onto it, turning to make his way out of the café.

 

“Leonid!”

  
He stopped quickly, craning his head around to find where his neighbour’s voice was coming from. Not too far away, tucked up in a little corner, Pavel was sitting at a table on his own, surrounded by text books and notepads. He waved cheerfully at Leonard, motioning for him to come over. Leonard wasn’t sure how long he actually had before he should be making his way back to work, but he figured a few minutes of chat wouldn’t hurt. As he approached the table, Leonard watched in amusement as Pavel frantically made an attempt to close his books and shuffle around his writing materials so there would be some more space.  
  
  
  
He took a seat across from Pavel. “Relax, kid, I don’t need to put my cup down. Happy to just hold it.”  
  
  
  
“Ah, thank you,” Pavel smiled with a hint of a blush. “My apologies, though. I have so much study to do, so it all just comes along with me to places.”  
  
  
  
“You’re studying physics, right?”  
  
  
  
Pavel nodded. “I am close to finishing the Fast Track Program for my Undergraduate Degree, which means next year I will begin my Master’s Degree in Physics, with another Master’s Degree in Mathematics. I wish to continue on and get my Doctorate, also.”  
  
  
  
Leonard felt his eyes widen a little. “Jeez, you really are a whiz kid. Nineteen and about to start your Master’s Degree? When I was nineteen, I was barely bein’ accepted into Med School.”  
  
  
  
“Medical School is still impressive, Leonid! And now you are a fully qualified doctor, no? You work at the hospital and help people who are sick and injured, which is very commendable and inspiring.”  
  
  
  
“Well, uh, thanks…” Leonard cleared his throat, a little taken aback from the compliments. “So, you on a break then?”  
  
  
  
“Something like that. I have a tutoring session very soon, and like to make sure I am energized from coffee before them.”  
  
  
  
“I forgot to ask… What even is that you’re drinkin’? Looks like a cup of damn sugar and diabetes.”  
  
  
  
Pavel chuckled. “It is a Soy Mocha Frappuccino. Lots of sugar, yes.”  
  
  
  
Leonard regarded his black coffee without any sugar in it and took a sip. It was about as good as any old café long black, but it wasn’t terrible either. He glanced back up at Pavel and watched as he took a generous sip of his own caffeinated drink with a straw, and almost immediately noticed yet another new feature about the kid; he had his nails painted black. Leonard tried his hardest not to raise an eyebrow, since he didn’t want to come off as judgemental. And really, he wasn’t judging Pavel, he was just a little… Surprised.  
  
  
  
Pavel seemed to be no fool, though. “First my nose ring, now you dislike my nail polish,” he said with a teasing grin.  
  
  
  
“What? Not at all. I guess I just haven’t seen that many…. Boys… Wearin’ it, is all,”  
  
  
  
“Is fun to be expressive. My hometown in Russia was not quite as accepting about these things compared to here in Atlanta, so I take advantage.”  
  
  
  
Leonard nodded dumbly, unsure what to say. “Hey, uh, you said you have a tutoring session?”  
  
  
  
“Soon, yes. It is my job. I tutor the first year students with their mathematics and physics classes. Sometimes, I even help with the post-graduate students.”  
  
  
  
“Oh yeah?” Leonard was suddenly struck with an idea. “Say, you wouldn’t be open to maybe givin’ Joanna some tutorin’ would ya? She’s real smart, but maths seems to be a little tough for her at the moment. Now, I’m no idiot when it comes to that subject, I just can’t seem to explain it in a way she understands.”  
  
  
  
Pavel beamed. “Leonid, I would love to! Though, this will not encourage her… Fascination with me?”  
  
  
  
“She definitely has a crush on ya, kid, that’s for sure. But you’re also nineteen, so obviously that’s never gonna go anywhere.”  
  
  
  
_And you’re probably as gay as a maypole_ , Leonard thought.  
  
  
  
“I would not want to be the first person to ever break her heart,” Pavel said quite seriously. “Your Joanna is a very sweet girl. But if you really think she needs tutoring, I am glad to help.”  
  
  
  
Leonard smiled. “If it becomes a problem, I’ll have a talk with her,” he assured, getting his phone from his pocket. “Here, put your number in. I’ll call her tonight; then let you know if it’s all good on her end. But I’m pretty sure she’ll be thrilled,”  
  
  
  
Pavel seemed to blush a little bit as he took Leonard’s phone. He quickly and expertly entered his number within a few seconds, and then handed it back with a grin. Leonard re-pocketed his phone, and suddenly his pager went off. Well, that was his calling to head back to the hospital. He cleared his throat and stood from his seat.  
  
  
  
“Gotta head back to work, kid, sorry.”  
  
  
  
Pavel nodded. “Of course! I will see you later.”  
  
  
  
Leonard turned and left the Starbucks café, unable to contain the smile on his face.  


 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Just as Leonard was fishing in his satchel for his keys, there was a hand tapping on his shoulder. Of course, he knew it would be Pavel, so he plucked his keys from his bag before turning around to smile at the kid. He was, as per usual, beaming brightly up at Leonard. He had his usual two bags over both shoulders, and was carrying his bundle of text books. Reminiscent of the first time they met, Leonard reached out wordlessly to lighten the load of books, to which Pavel smiled even wider in an obvious thank you.

 

“Want help takin’ these inside?” Leonard asked.  
  
  
  
Pavel shrugged. “If it is not much trouble to you, that would be helpful. Thank you.”  
  
  
  
Leonard waited as Pavel retrieved his key from his pocket and pushed it into the keyhole, unlocking the door. He followed the kid inside his apartment, through the hallway, and into what appeared to be the living area. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a TV, just a small coffee table and two hand-me-down looking armchairs. Pavel went over to the table to dump all of his text books, so Leonard followed suit.

 

“Your place is a bit… Bare,” Leonard commented without much tact.  
  
  
  
Pavel nodded. “The joys of being a student and living by yourself. It does not matter too much to me, though. I do not spend a lot of time here.”

 

“I suppose you wouldn’t, what with all your studyin’ and runnin’ and tutorin’.”  
  
  
  
“I am also in a band, and I help to run a club at the university,”  
  
  
  
Leonard shook his head with a smile. “No wonder you need all that coffee, kid. Do you ever stop to take a damn breather?”

 

“Sometimes…” Pavel answered quietly, seemingly sensitive to the question. “Oh well. It is good to keep busy.”

 

“I guess. Anyway, I’d better leave you to it. I’m sure you have plenty of work to do.”

 

He turned to leave, but Pavel spoke once more. “Leonid?”

 

“Yeah, kid?”

 

Pavel’s cheeks were pink. “I do not suppose you would like to… Come to a club meeting I am running tonight?”

 

“Club meeting? Like, the thing you help with at college?”

 

“Yes,” Pavel nodded. “Once a fortnight, we hold a sort of meet and greet thing on the campus. Is so people can make new friends, and an eighteen and up type thing, so nobody is left out.”

 

Leonard was unsure, but curious. “Uh, I’m really not all that great with social stuff to be honest with you.”

 

“Bring your friend; Joanna’s Uncle Jim, as she calls him. He is welcome. Please do come, Leonid. I would love for you to meet my friends, also.”

 

Leonard took a few more moments to decide, before finally nodding his head. “Alright. But only if Jim agrees to come with me,”

 

Pavel grinned. “Excellent! I will write you down the details!”

 

  

* * *

 

  
  
  
  
As it turned out, Jim _had_ agreed to go with Leonard to this “meeting” Pavel was running. A part of him had actually been hoping that Jim would be busy, because Leonard was pretty nervous about the whole thing. He wasn’t sure why, either. It was just a small event, but he had spent over an hour trying to figure out what he would wear. A part of him wanted to impress Pavel for some reason – which was ridiculous since the kid was _nineteen_ – and he ended up finally deciding on a pair of tan chinos and his favourite blue button down with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. Hell, he even put a bit of damn product in his hair so it looked more “casual”. Anyone would think he was about to go on a date, for God’s sake.  


When he walked from his bedroom out to the kitchen, Jim was already waiting for him, leaning against the counter, doing something on his phone. Compared to Leonard, he was dressed incredibly casual in some jeans and a plain white t-shirt. The bastard still managed to look really handsome, though… He glanced up at Leonard and his face split into an enormous, shit-eating grin.

 

“Bones! You’re a bit dressed up for a meet and greet!” He cackled. “Wouldn’t be someone you’re trying to impress would there?”

 

“Shut up, Jim,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

 

They left the apartment and went out to Leonard’s car, climbing in and pulling onto the street. They could have walked, probably, but Leonard was one of those people that preferred to drive pretty much everywhere out of convenience. Plus, he was kind of hoping he might be able to offer Pavel a lift once the night was over. That was a good neighbourly thing to do, right?

 

Leonard pulled into a public parking space near the university and he and Jim got out, making their way up a large path toward the main building. He quickly pulled out the piece of paper with the directions on it, and soon enough, they managed to find the right room. It was on a second level of one of the smaller buildings, and they had to go up a set of stairs to a balcony to enter it. There was a paper sign on the door stating quite simply: “Safe Space”. Well, this must be it. Leonard opened the door and stepped inside with Jim.

 

The room was decent in size, and there were visibly around twenty people or so already there. Most of them looked to be around Pavel’s age, but Leonard spotted a few others closer to his own. There were a few purple couches with people sitting on them, chatting, and there was some soft pop music playing in the background. Leonard scanned the room for his neighbour and finally spotted him, standing towards the back by a table with what appeared to be empty name tags on it. He was wearing washout skinny jeans, a worn out looking flannelette shirt, and of course, his Doc Marten boots. Leonard motioned for Jim to follow him over.

 

“Hey,” he greeted Pavel. “We’re here.”

 

Pavel faced them and broke into a grin. “Leonid! And this is Jim?”

 

“Yep,” Jim returned the smile, offering his hand. “Good to meet you, Pavel.”

 

“Here, these are name tags. Please put your preferred name and pronouns on it, just like mine.”

 

Leonard glanced down at the kid’s chest to see the plastic name badge that read “Pavel, he/him”. He wasn’t entirely too sure what the pronouns part meant, or why they needed to write them down, but he complied. Both he and Jim leaned over the table with a Sharpie each, and then pinned their badges to their shirts: “Leonard, he/him” and “Jim, he/him”.

 

“And who are these two handsome men, Pasha?”

 

Leonard observed as a very attractive young woman approached them. She had dark skin, and long black hair tied back into a pony tail. She smiled at both he and Jim pleasantly, reaching out her hand. Leonard regarded her nametag: “Nyota, she/her”. Jim grinned widely at her, as if they had met before.

 

“Nyota, this is Leonid, my neighbour, and his friend Jim,” Pavel explained.

 

She shook Leonard’s hand. “I know Jim, but it’s nice to meet you Leonard. I’m Nyota.”  
  
  
  
He faced Jim. “You know each other?”  
  
  
  
“Remember I mentioned about uh, Spock having a girlfriend?” Jim blushed a little.

 

“Oh, right... Well, Spock is one lucky man,” Leonard smiled at Nyota. “He comin’ tonight? I still haven’t met him, you know.”

 

Nyota shook her head. “This isn’t Spock’s sort of thing, but my girlfriend Chris is here. I’m sure I’ll introduce you at some point.”

 

“Leonid, there is someone else I would very much like you to meet!” Pavel said excitedly, grabbing his arm. “Over here, follow me.”

 

Leonard’s skin burned where Pavel was touching it, and he felt his face flush. He wasn’t entirely sure why he felt so affected by the simple gesture, but decided not to dwell on it and allowed himself to be led over to one of the purple couches. A man who looked to be a little older than Pavel was sat chatting with a girl with bright green hair. Her name badge said “Gaila, she/her”.  
  
  
  
“Hikaru!” Pavel said, standing in front of him.  
  
  
  
The man faced them. “Oh, hey, Pasha. This your neighbour?”

 

Leonard noticed now that they were a bit closer that Hikaru appeared to be Korean. He had a lovely smile, also, and seemed very friendly. His badge also stated that he used “he/him” pronouns. Leonard offered him what he hoped was a relatively warm smile.

 

“Yes, this is Leonid!”

 

“Hikaru Sulu,” he said as they shook hands. “Good to finally meet the man behind the name. Pasha honestly won’t shut up about you,”  
  
  
  
“Hush, Hikaru!” Pavel hissed, going bright red.  
  
  
  
Leonard felt his face colouring also. “Uh, good things I hope…”  
  
  
  
“Hikaru is married,” Pavel said quickly, changing the subject. “But his husband could not be here tonight. They recently had a baby. Her name is Demora.”  
  
  
  
“Thanks for giving the guy my life story for me, Pasha,”

 

Pavel seemed to redden even more and glared at Sulu, who simply grinned at him. They seemed close, almost like brothers, and Leonard had to smile at the thought. He glanced back over at Jim who was still happily and comfortably chatting with Nyota and another woman, who Nyota was holding hands with. The vibe he was getting from this place was really… Comforting. He felt safe, and decided that the name for the club meeting was very suitable.

 

Soon, Pavel, Nyota, and Sulu all started to encourage everyone to drag a chair to the centre of the room and form a circle. After a few minutes of awkward shuffling and “excuse me’s”, the whole room was seated and facing each other in a very squashed looking circle. Leonard was sat across from Pavel, which admittedly he had done on purpose so he could watch him; it made him feel more comfortable to be able to see the person who had invited him. Jim sat next to him, seemingly relaxed with his leg crossed over his knee.

 

“Hi everyone,” Nyota spoke, smiling around the circle. “I just wanted to say thank you all for coming. We’re going to go around the room now, to try and introduce ourselves. If you could just say your name, preferred pronouns, and anything else you might be comfortable sharing with. My name is Nyota, and I’m one of the representatives for Georgia Tech’s ‘Queer Society’. I’m 24, and I use she/her pronouns. I’m bisexual and have both a boyfriend and a girlfriend. I’m also studying languages here!”  
  
  
  
It suddenly dawned on Leonard exactly what sort of “club” this actually was. It was a gay club. Well, a “queer” club, as Nyota had basically put it. It was somewhere that people under the queer umbrella could go and be themselves. Leonard eyed Pavel carefully who was watching Nyota, listening eagerly to his friend with a smile. He wondered if the reason he had been invited here was so Pavel could out himself to Leonard without any awkwardness.

 

It was Pavel’s turn to speak. “Good evening! Welcome to ‘Safe Space’! This is something we hold once a fortnight for anybody who considers themselves a member of the LGBTQIA et cetera category. It is a safe space, and we do not tolerate any form of discrimination.  
  
My name is Pavel, and my friends call me Pasha. I am also a representative. I am from Russia. I am 19, using he/him pronouns. I study mathematics and physics here. Oh! I am gay,” he said the last sentence like he was highly proud of this fact.

 

Leonard smiled softly at him. It was nice that Pavel could happily and safely announce his sexuality in such a safe and supportive environment. He continued to listen as it was Sulu’s turn to speak, who told everyone about his husband – Ben – as well as his new daughter. As the circle continued around, Leonard felt himself growing increasingly nervous as his turn approached. He knew he didn’t have to say anything about his sexuality or something similar, but a part of him felt like he should, purely because of how many other people already had.

 

“What’s up, guys? I’m Jim, he/him,” his best friend announced confidently. “I’m 26, pansexual and poly. I just wanted to say this is a really cool group you got going here. Keep it up.”

 

Suddenly all eyes were on Leonard. He felt his heart rate increase at an alarming rate, and his palms began to sweat. Pavel was watching him, a soft expression on his face, and he smiled encouragingly. With a deep breath, he wiped his hands onto his pants and stared down at the ground, not feeling comfortable enough to look at everyone.

 

“Um, I’m Leonard, he/him pronouns… 32, qualified doctor… And uh… Bisexual…” He practically breathed out the last word, and his face was burning. “Never said that out loud before…”

 

He felt Jim’s hand on his shoulder. Though he appreciated the gesture, he still felt a little sick and overwhelmed, so he continued to stare at the floor. A few people started to clap, and he slowly looked up, noticing that almost every person was smiling brightly at him. Across the room, Pavel was positively beaming, clapping the hardest of everyone.  
  
  
  
“Congratulations, Leonid! It is a big thing to say it out loud. We are all very proud of you, right?”

 

The room agreed in unison, shouts of “Yeah!” and “Good job, Leonard!” He felt a sudden sense of relief wash over him. Though it had been terrifying, it was truly exhilarating to have finally been able to openly state his sexuality at the age of 32. It had taken him this long to actually admit it out loud, but he had done it. Rather embarrassingly, he felt a small tear slip from his eye and wiped at quickly.

 

At the end of the night, Leonard hovered around the door, watching Pavel and a few others pack up the room. Jim had already left with Spock, who was apparently picking him up from the parking lot, so he was left to awkwardly wait for Pavel. Nyota noticed him and said something to Pavel who smiled in response. He gave her a quick hug before heading over to him.

 

“Hey,” Leonard said, shifting nervously on the spot.

 

Pavel reached out to gently touch his arm. “Leonid, I really am very proud of you.”

 

“Uh, thanks. Wasn’t actually plannin’ on sayin’ anythin’, just sorta slipped out,”

  
  
“It happens,” Pavel smiled. “I have to head back home in a moment to study more. You are leaving also?”

 

“Yeah, I was gonna offer you a ride… Since we’re in the same buildin’ and all…”

 

“That would be great!”

 

They left the room after saying their goodbyes to Nyota, Chris and Sulu, and walked through the university back to Leonard’s car. They didn’t really converse on the short drive back, and nor again during the ride in the elevator. It didn’t feel awkward though, just comfortable, and Leonard was feeling quite content after the night’s events.

 

Up at their apartments, Pavel hesitated at his door. “Thank you, for coming tonight. I am sorry I was not completely honestly with you about the type of club it was…” He said bashfully.  
  
  
  
“It’s okay. I ended up having a nice time.”

 

Pavel nodded. “Leonid, I was wondering… Would you like to perhaps see a film with me on Monday night?”

 

Leonard felt his heart stop momentarily before pulling himself together to respond. “Um, Pavel… I uh… Well, I would have Jo, and I’m not sure if I could get a babysitter…” Why was he making excuses?!

 

“I understand!” Pavel said quickly, but obviously disappointed. “Another time, maybe.”

 

Leonard stared at Pavel, standing there in his punk attire, but still looking incredibly sweet purely from his honey coloured curls and rosy cheeks. He was chewing on his lip nervously, eyes darting around a little. God, he was such a _kid_. Surely it would be wrong if Leonard went out to a movie with him. Wouldn’t it? Damn it, he just didn’t know.

 

“Well uh, maybe… Maybe Jo could come with us…?” He finally said. Yeah, that sounded safe.  
  
  
  
Pavel’s eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. “Of course Joanna can come! We can let her choose the film and have something to eat afterwards, yes?”

 

“Alright,” Leonard smiled. “Monday it is.”

 

Surprisingly, he could hardly wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes:  
> \- More indie/punk Chekov. My favourite. I love him having a nose ring and nail polish, what do you all think?  
> \- I am definitely using this story to address some topics/issues etc that I am passionate about, hence the Queer Society and LGBTQIA* characters.  
> \- Closeted!Len is so sweet, bless him.  
> \- How much longer are you all willing to wait for some actual McChekov? Because it is coming, I just wanna know how much more "banter" you can handle before they actually "get together".


	3. Not Quite A Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonard has a crisis of conscience, which Jim counsels him through.  
> Leonard, Joanna and Pavel go to the movies.  
> Leonard is excited about the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Hey all! Sorry for the delay.  
> I had writer's block for ages, which led to writing other stuff.  
> But here it finally is!  
> Enjoy.

For the last three days, Leonard hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the Queer Society meeting. He kept replaying the night over and over in his head: his coming out as bisexual to a bunch of strangers, being praised and encouraged for it, and then Pavel pretty much asking him out on a date. It had been an eventful night, to say the least, but Leonard was very grateful for it.

 

It was Sunday, the day before the group-movie-date was supposed to happen. Leonard had spent his day off doing a bunch of household chores, and finally by midday he was able to sit down and relax. He really needed to call Joanna and ask her about the movie. He hadn’t gotten around to it yet; probably because he was nervous as hell to be spending time with Pavel when he was pretty sure the kid was interested romantically (or sexually).  
  
  
  
Leonard dialled Joanna’s cell number and put the phone to his ear, listening to the rings, before finally there was the muffled sound of the call being answered.

 

“Hello?”

 

Leonard smiled at the sound of his daughter’s voice. “Hey, baby. How are you?”  
  
  
  
“Good!” Joanna said, a smile in her tone. “How’re you, Daddy?”  
  
  
  
“Fine thanks, darlin’. How’s your week been?”  
  
  
  
They conversed about general things for a while longer. Joanna told him all about how in her science class, she was doing a project on ecosystems, and that she had chosen forest ecosystems because she “used to love playing in the woods” when they lived in Fargo. Leonard happily listened to his girl chat about the main thing she was quite passionate about; the environment. It was pretty obvious to him that she was probably going to head down an environmental science pathway in the future years to come.

 

“So I’ve got somethin' to ask you, honey,” he finally said.

 

“What?”  
  
  
  
Leonard cleared his throat, nervous for some reason. “Uh, well Pavel asked if you and I would like to see a movie with him tomorrow. We’d probably go straight after school. What do you think?”

 

“Awesome! What movie?” She sounded excited, which he had expected.  
  
  
  
“We thought you could choose,”  
  
  
  
“Hm… Is Ghostbusters okay? It’s PG! And I really wanna see it!”  
  
  
  
“Sure thing, baby. I’ll buy the tickets online tonight so they’re ready for us.”  
  
  
  
“I can’t wait!”  
  
  
  
Leonard smiled. “There was just one other thing…”  
  
  
  
“Yeah, what’s that?”  
  
  
  
“Well, you know how you struggle a bit with your math work…?”

 

Joanna was silent for a moment. “Yeah… Why?”

 

“How would you feel about Pavel givin' you some tutorin'? It’s his job. He mainly tutors people at the university, but I’m sure he’d love to give you a hand, and I can’t seem to explain it right for you.” Leonard held his breath.  
  
  
  
“Daddy!” Joanna exclaimed. “You told him I’m bad at math?! That’s so _embarrassing_! He’s going to think I’m stupid!”  
  
  
  
“Hey,” Leonard said soothingly. “It’s alright. He’s not that sort of guy, and I think you know that. You’re not bad at math anyway; you just struggle a little bit. I care about you, darlin’; I want you to do as well as you can. That’s why I think tutorin’ could be good for you. But it’s obviously your decision, honey. I won’t make you.”  
  
  
  
Joanna sighed. “Can I think about it?”  
  
  
  
“Of course, baby. Anyway, I’ll let you go now. I’ll see you tomorrow after school?”  
  
  
  
“Okay. See you tomorrow. Love you, Daddy,”  
  
  
  
“Love you too, Jo,”  
  
  
  
Leonard ended the phone call and got up to go into the study. He booted up the computer and logged on, immediately navigating his way through the Internet to find the website for the movie theatre they would go to. Even though he was a technophobe, he did at least know how to use the Internet and make online purchases. As quickly as he could, he used his PayPal account to buy the three movie tickets and then turned the computer back off. He hadn’t actually given much thought into buying Pavel’s ticket, too; it just sort of happened. Hell, Pavel was a student after all, he’d probably appreciate the spare ten dollars he would now have.  
  
  
  
As he went to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich, he felt a sudden crisis of conscience rush over him. Was it really fair to go see a movie with Pavel if Joanna was going to be there? Especially since she has a crush on him? Plus, the kid was nineteen. _Nineteen_ , Leonard, for Christ's sake! He shouldn’t be going out on dates with young men closer to his daughter’s age than his own. _Was_ it even a date? Was Leonard kidding himself into thinking that Pavel was actually interested in him? But then again, why else would he have asked him to see a film when they were simply neighbours? He suddenly wasn’t feeling hungry anymore with all these thoughts floating around his head.

 

He fetched his phone that was charging by the kettle and dialled Jim.

 

“Bones, hey, man! What’s up?”

 

“Hey. Think you could come over?”

 

“Uh, sure. Everything okay?” Jim sounded concerned.

 

“Talk to you about it when you get here,” Leonard mumbled, hanging up.

 

He trudged into the living area and slumped down onto the couch, burying his head in his hands. A noise of frustration and helplessness escaped him. This was utterly ridiculous and just typical of the universe. Of course when he decides it’s time to try and move on, the person presented to him is a gorgeous piece of jailbait. Okay, yes - Pavel _was_ legal. But that barely made Leonard feel any better about the whole situation. He was starting to feel a headache coming on when he heard the door to his apartment open.

 

“Bones,” Jim spoke, suddenly entering the room. “You okay?”

 

Leonard sighed and glanced at his friend who had sat beside him. “Thanks for comin’,”

 

“Of course,” he smiled, though his brows were knitted together.

 

“Pavel asked me on a date. I think,”

 

“Really? But that’s awesome!”

 

Leonard scowled. “He’s nineteen, Jim! Why am I the only one who sees a problem with that?”

 

Jim crossed his arms. “Okay, so you’re feeling guilty. You don’t like the age gap.”  
  
  
  
Of course he didn’t like the damn age gap. A fourteen-year difference is a pretty big one. Mostly, Leonard was terrified of it becoming serious. Or rather, whether or not that was what Pavel was even looking for. Leonard knew he couldn’t do casual relationships, and it honestly wouldn’t surprise him if that’s what a nineteen-year-old kid was looking for with him. He probably had a thing for older men – possibly even “daddy issues” – and was looking for something cathartic. But what if Pavel _did_ want something long-term and serious? How would Leonard explain that to Joanna? To Pamela? To his _own mother_?

 

“Bones, I can see all those cogs turning in your brain right now. You need to take a step back and assess this situation properly – and by that I mean take a damn chill pill.” Jim said simply.

 

Leonard stared at him. “How am I supposed to ‘take a chill pill’? I’m divorced, I have a kid, and some young thing is apparently interested in me. There’s no way I can relax about this. Surely you can see how complicated it could get?”

 

Jim nodded. “Of course. But for now, all it is, is a date. Remember, you’re in control of what does and doesn’t happen. If you don’t want it to go anywhere, tell Pavel that. He may be young, but I can tell he’d be understanding. He’s been around, been through some stuff. You can see it in the way he talks and his eyes; he’s an old soul.”

 

That was true, Leonard silently agreed. He thought back to the day they first met; how when Pavel had first seen Joanna and instantly took to her, unfazed by the fact that Leonard had a child. Pavel was quite obviously mature for his age also, having moved over to Atlanta from Russia at such a young age and then lived on his own. And when he and Pavel would talk, the kid definitely _did_ look older in his eyes, as if his soul had been around much longer than his living body.  
  
  
  
Leonard sighed. “Okay, he is a pretty mature nineteen-year-old. But I still feel uncomfortable about it. If anyone else knew I was after him, they’d think I’m some perverted monster,”

 

“Leonard,” Jim said seriously, using his first name; a rare occurence. “You’re one of the nicest guys I know. Sure, you can be a bit of a grouch, but you mean well. It’s not like you’re going to take advantage of him, right?”

 

“Of course I wouldn’t!” Leonard sputtered out. “I’d never do anything to hurt that kid. He… He’s special,”

 

Jim shrugged, a smile at his lips. “See? Listen to yourself. You’re in deep, Bones. Already. Just go for it, man. One day at a time,”

 

Leonard smiled softly at his best friend. How was it possible that Jim Kirk equally frustrated the hell out of him, but yet always knew exactly what to say in situations like this? The Master’s Degree in Psychology probably had a lot to do with it, but for the most part, Jim was just a really great friend. Leonard really did love him so much. He cleared his throat at the thought, hiding his vulnerable moment.

 

“You’re right, I guess,” he tried to grumble. “Thanks, Jim. I needed this.”

 

“Any time, Bones,” Jim grinned. “Just so long as I get full details when you eventually tap that ass,”

 

Leonard just rolled his eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Leonard was in the bathroom adding some finishing touches to his hair when a knock on the front door sounded. He jumped, almost ruining the style he had applied with some hair wax, and allowed himself to breathe. It was Monday, the day of the date-that-wasn’t-really-a-date, and the plan had been for Leonard and Pavel to go and pick up Joanna, then head to the 4:30pm session of the movie.

 

He was nervous. Very nervous, in fact. It had taken him ages to finally settle on an outfit: his nicest jeans with a light blue, short-sleeved button-up. Leonard hoped he looked a little less formal than he had at the Queer Society meeting, especially since he wasn’t entirely sure if this was going to be a date or not. Regardless, he had wanted to look nice for Pavel - even though admitting that made his cheeks fill with heat.

 

Leonard collected his keys and wallet and pulled the apartment door open. Pavel was standing about a foot away from the entrance, grinning at him. He took in the kid’s chosen get-up for the evening: jeans rolled up at the bottom, a _Dead Kennedys_ t-shirt with a denim jacket, and naturally, his Doc Martens. The jacket itself was enough for Leonard to raise an eyebrow. It was decorated in multiple studs, spikes, patches and badge-pins. He took note of the rainbow “ _Equal Rights Now!_ ” pin, and an obviously hand-sewn patch with “ _Nazi Punks: Fuck Off!_ ” on it. Leonard fought the urge to laugh and smiled at the kid instead.

 

“Uh, very creative jacket you have there,”

 

Pavel smirked. “You like? I have spent a year on this. It describes my 'punk',”

 

Leonard locked the door behind him. “Your… Punk?”

 

“Is like the song, which I am sure you know: ‘ _punk means thinking for yourself’_. All of my patches and pins are what I believe in,”

 

“I see. And the studs and spikes? They just to look edgy?”

 

Pavel stared at him in the elevator. “Oh no, you have to wear them to be considered a punk. Is a punk rule,” he deadpanned.

 

Leonard almost believed him for a second, but knew better. “Alright, smart ass,” he rolled his eyes with a grin.  
  
  
  
They continued their short ride in the elevator and then stepped out of the apartment building. In the car, Pavel happily chatted with Leonard about the movie they were going to see. Apparently he was just as keen as Joanna to see the Ghostbusters remake. Something about being a feminist, and appreciating the all-female cast. Leonard smiled to himself in fondness – Pavel was so sweet.

 

“Is just really important, Leonid!” Pavel exclaimed passionately. “The women will be doing the hard work in the film, not dressed in a sexy way for once, and the receptionist is played by a man. I just think that is excellent. I cannot wait to watch this.”

 

Leonard nodded. “Joanna seems pretty excited for it, too.”

 

They pulled up at the school, and Leonard kept the car in neutral, having told Joanna she would need to come out of her classroom and jump straight into the car at the end of the day. It was only a few moments before he saw his little girl exiting the school gates. He observed that she had dressed a little differently than normal. She had her long, chestnut brown hair flowing down to her shoulders instead of tied back in a ponytail. She had also chosen an outfit of those short-overall things, and some black Converse sneakers. As she got closer to the car, Leonard also noticed that underneath her overalls, she was wearing the old _Beastie Boys_ t-shirt Jim had given her. He shook his head with a smile; Pavel’s influence probably.

 

“Joanna, I _love_ your outfit!” Pavel all but cried as soon as she was in the car.

 

Leonard almost face-palmed; that was _certainly_ not going to help with her crush. He watched his daughter turn a very nice shade of red at the compliment, and then smile to herself as she put her seatbelt on. Oh, Pavel. He was just being kind, but Joanna was probably going to think about that all afternoon now. Still, it was sweet to see her looking so pleased.

 

“I like your jacket,” she said to Pavel. “What’s a Nazi Punk?”

 

“Um, not something you need to worry about. Please never repeat what that patch says,” Pavel said sheepishly.  
  
  
  
Joanna shrugged. “’Kay. Daddy, can you please turn the radio up?!”

 

Leonard complied. “Sure, honey. What song is this?”  
  
  
  
“Wild by Troye Sivan!”

 

Pavel looked a little excited. “I like this song also. Is not my usual music taste, but is catchy,”

 

 _‘Cause there’s still_  
_Too long to the weekend_  
 _Too long ‘til I drown in_  
 _Your hands_  
 _Too long since I’ve been a fool_

 

  
The guy singing had a very soft voice, and the music accompanying him was relatively laid back. It certainly wasn’t the sort of music Leonard would usually listen to, but it was easy enough to get into. Pavel was giving him side glances as the song played, smiling a little and then blushing. Leonard gripped the steering wheel as he continued to listen to the lyrics.

 

 

 _‘Cause when you look like that_  
_I’ve never ever wanted to be so bad, oh_  
 _And it drives me wild_  
 _You’re driving me wild, wild, wild_

 

 

Pavel was softly singing to himself, only this time he stared directly at Leonard. He felt his heart rate speed up. Dammit, this kid was way too cute for his own good. He focused his attention on Joanna in the backseat who was happily singing along to the pop song without a care in the world. Leonard took a breath to calm himself and continued the drive to the movie theatre.  
  
  
  
They arrived a few radio songs later, pulling into a parking space and clambering out of the car. Inside the theatre, Leonard led the way over to the ticket booth. Pavel pulled his wallet from his jeans and Leonard waved him off, turning to the counter and telling the teenage boy serving them that he had already booked his tickets online. They were printed out quickly and handed to him. He turned to face Pavel and Joanna and hand them their little slips of paper.

 

“Leonid!” Pavel protested. “I can pay for my own ticket, you know!”

 

Leonard shrugged. “Consider it a thank you for the other day,”

 

Pavel’s cheeks went pink but he nodded quickly. “Well, I appreciate it. But I insist that you let me get everyone popcorn and drinks!”

 

So he did. Joanna was ecstatic, since Leonard admittedly didn’t let her have snacks like popcorn very often, let alone a huge cup of sugary coke. She looked pleased as punch as she held her enormous container of salty popcorn with an equally large soda. Leonard could practically feel the cavities forming on his teeth as he sipped at his own paper cup of fizzy drink that Pavel insisted he had.

 

They made their way into the assigned theatre, finding their seats. Joanna insisted she sat between the two of them, and Leonard was a little grateful for this fact, since he wasn’t entirely sure if Pavel would have tried to make a move on him or something. He watched as Pavel pulled his phone out and pushed his head closer to Joanna’s; they were taking a photo. Leonard could only laugh when Pavel reached over to show him the picture – both of them had these little dog ears on their heads. Pavel’s looked like a Dalmatian, and Joanna’s were a simple brown. He had no idea how they did that?

 

“What on earth? How’d you do that?” He asked.

 

Pavel simply laughed. “Is an app on my phone called 'Snapchat' that puts filters on like this dog one. Your phone is too old to have anything like that. Does yours even have a camera?”

 

“No, Daddy has a super old phone,” Joanna answered for him. “I keep telling him to get a new one, but he won’t!”

 

“Hey! Mine works just fine! It calls and texts people like it’s s’posed to…”

 

Joanna shushed him. “The previews are about to start!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

The movie had actually turned out to be pretty great. All of the lead characters had made the three of them laugh many times, and Leonard had enjoyed seeing Pavel and his daughter getting along so well, giggling with each other and sharing agreements on different parts they enjoyed. Surprisingly enough, Joanna had also seemed more relaxed, and not quite so overwhelmed by her crush on Pavel. This was very relieving for Leonard.

 

“Chris Hemsworth was so cute in that movie!” Joanna exclaimed as they got into the car.

 

Pavel nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, yes. He has the loveliest eyes, no?” He glanced at Leonard. “Though, I much prefer hazel coloured eyes myself.”

 

Leonard felt a blush creep up his neck and cleared his throat. “Jo, what’d I say about not liking boys until you’re thirty-three? Gonna give your old man a heart attack here,”

 

It was time for them to have something to eat now, and Joanna had suggested they go to Chipotle. Leonard didn’t really mind where they went, so long as there were some relatively healthy options, and Pavel seemed happy enough with having Mexican, so that’s where they ended up going. Thankfully, they managed to find a free table in a moderately quiet spot, and the line hadn’t been overly long either.

 

Leonard had ordered a steak burrito, Joanna got a kid’s meal with tacos, and Pavel had a burrito bowl. The burrito bowl looked very different from both he and Joanna’s meals, however, as it was full of tofu, beans and salad. He hadn’t ordered any form of meat or dairy, which Leonard was admittedly surprised at as he didn’t really picture the kid as a health fanatic.

 

“Never picked you as the healthy kind,” he said plainly.

 

Pavel stuck a plastic fork into his meal. “Oh, I am not really. I am a vegan.”

 

“What’s a vegan?” Joanna asked.

 

“It means I do not eat things that come from animals,” Pavel smiled. “So no meats, dairy, eggs, or honey.”

 

“How come?”

 

“I just do not believe in it. I like animals too much,”

 

Joanna considered this. “I like animals… Should I stop eating them?”

 

Pavel shrugged. “Is entirely up to you, Joanna,”

 

“Just eat your dinner, Jo,” Leonard said, not wanting her to be put off her food. “So did you enjoy the movie?”

 

“Uh huh! It was awesome! I liked that the girls were the heroes,”

 

They all talked some more about the movie, discussing their favourite parts and why. Leonard caught himself looking at Pavel more than a few times that was necessary. He honestly couldn’t help it, though. The kid was so damn gorgeous, and he was _so good_ with Joanna; almost as good as Jim was with her. It was comforting to watch his daughter get along so well with Pavel, and he felt like it may help in the future if anything was to develop between himself and the kid. He also made a quick reminder to himself to stop calling Pavel “ _kid_ ”, especially if he was hoping to pursue a relationship with him.

 

“Pavel…?” Joanna suddenly asked.

 

Pavel continued to eat. “Yes, Joanna?”

 

Leonard observed his daughter opposite him at the table. She looked unsure of herself, and honestly he was a little worried she was about to damn well ask the kid on a real date or something. God, that was going to be an awkward situation to say the least; he’d have to explain to her that Pavel was way too old for her. And that he was gay, _and_ interested in Leonard…

 

“Do you… Have a girlfriend?” She asked carefully. Leonard froze; it was happening.

 

Pavel smiled at her. “No, I do not!” He ate another bite. “I have never had one, actually.”

 

“But you’re so cute!” Joanna burst out, immediately blushing at her words.

 

“Ah, alright, Jo. That’s enough. Don’t – “

 

Pavel waved him off. “Leonid, is fine. Joanna, I have not had a girlfriend before, because I have not ever wanted to have one. Do you understand what I mean?”

 

“Um…” She looked like she was trying to figure it out, cogs moving in her brain. “Well. You did say you think Chris Hemsworth is cute. Does that have something to do with it?”

 

Leonard was suddenly feeling incredibly uncomfortable. He didn’t think it was very polite of Joanna to be asking Pavel such personal questions. Especially the sorts of questions that may end up leading to revealing Pavel’s intentions toward Leonard.

 

“Sort of, yes.” Pavel smiled gently. He placed his cutlery down, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “I only like boys. I have had boyfriends. Many,”

 

“Okay.” Joanna replied simply. “But, if you’ve never had a girlfriend and only boyfriends, how do you know you don’t like girls?”

 

“Sometimes you just know these things, Jo.” Leonard interrupted.

 

“Your father is right. I just know this,” Pavel smiled again.

  
She looked at Leonard curiously. “Do you like boys, too, Daddy?”

 

Leonard felt his face flush. “Uh…” What was he supposed to say? Yes, he did like boys, but his only experience was that one drunk time with Jim?

 

“Daddy, I’ll still love you if you like boys.”

 

“… That’s real sweet of you, darlin’. Um. I like boys, _and_ I like girls. That’s why I was married to your Momma.”

 

She nodded. “Okay.”

 

And that was the end of that conversation. Pavel beamed at Leonard, and he could have sworn he felt warm fingertips rubbing over his own underneath the table, but the touch only lasted mere seconds before the feeling was gone again. Leonard blushed, but kept his gaze on Pavel and returned the smile. It seemed like this may go more smoothly than he had originally anticipated.

 

Very soon, all three of them had finished their meals and Leonard decided they should head back to the apartment. It was nearing 7:30pm, and Joanna would probably want to use the computer before she had to go to bed, so they all got back into the car and drove home. The ride back was pretty quiet; they had talked quite a lot for most of the afternoon and evening. Leonard couldn’t help but to absentmindedly smile to himself as he drove, glancing at both Pavel and Joanna intermittently.

 

As they stood outside of their apartment doors, Leonard hesitated. He’d had a great time with Pavel this afternoon, but he found he wasn’t quite ready to call it a night yet. It was only 7:45pm, so he thought he might go out on a limb.

 

“Hey uh, Pavel,” he said nervously. “Wanna come in for a bit?”

 

Pavel grinned. “You are sure? I will not be intruding?”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes. “Get inside, would ya?”

 

He turned the key into the lock, and the three of them entered the apartment. As Leonard had predicted, Joanna almost immediately asked if she could use the computer, and since he wanted to spend time talking to Pavel alone, he was happy to oblige. She skipped off happily to the study and Leonard led Pavel through to the kitchen, switching the kettle on.

 

“I was gonna make some tea,” he said. “You want somethin’?”

 

“Oh, what kinds of tea do you have?” Pavel asked.

 

“Regular old black, or I might have some green somewhere…”

 

“Green tea would be lovely if you can find it, but is no problem if not; I will go without.”

 

Leonard suddenly felt very determined to find this green tea he thought he might have hiding in one of the cupboards. He went to look for it, and eventually found it hiding behind some boxes of plain crackers and Goldfish. Pleased, Leonard retrieved two mugs and set about making their tea. Pavel simply watched him from the breakfast bar, green eyes staring intently full of something like adoration and longing. The thought made Leonard blush.

 

“You know, Leonid,” Pavel said, taking his mug of tea. “I was actually surprised to find out you are thirty-two."

 

Leonard raised his eyebrow, leaning against the kitchen bench. “Why’s that?”

 

“I assumed you were younger, closer to Jim’s age. I know you had Joanna, but I thought perhaps she was born when you were eighteen maybe. Though, I know now you must have been twenty-one, yes?”

 

“Yeah,” Leonard replied. “Still pretty young to have a kid, but it is what it is.”

 

Pavel nodded in understanding. “You are a wonderful father to her,”

 

Leonard felt his breath catch at the compliment and quickly took a large gulp of his tea, ignoring that it was still too hot to drink. His tongue burned, but he pretended not to notice and made a very good effort to keep his gaze on the suddenly very interesting tiled floor. He wasn’t very used to compliments in general and often struggled to accept and reciprocate them. Now was definitely one of those times.

 

“Thanks, Pavel,” he finally answered. “It’s nice to hear that.”

 

Pavel gave him the softest of smiles. “Of course, Leonid.”

 

“Hope you had a good time tonight, by the way. I know I did, and Jo seemed to really enjoy herself, too.”

 

“One of the best nights I have had in a while,” Pavel said sincerely. “I would… Very much like to do it again soon. Though, perhaps maybe without Joanna…?”

 

Leonard swallowed. “I… Pavel…”

 

“Please?”  
  
  
  
How the hell do you say no to that? “Okay,” Leonard agreed. “What’d you have in mind?”

 

Pavel’s entire face lit up. “Well, my band has a gig on Friday night. If you are able to get Jim to take care of Joanna, I would love for you to come and support us.”

 

Leonard smirked a bit. “Oh yeah? What sorta music you play?”

 

“Some punk, some indie, some alternative,” Pavel shrugged. “I mostly play the bass guitar, but occasionally I will sing also.”

 

“Alright, but if the music’s terrible I’m gonna leave,” Leonard teased.

 

“Leonid, you would never!”

 

“You’re right, I wouldn’t. But okay, sure. Sounds like a plan.”

 

Pavel stood from his stool and went over to the sink to place his empty mug inside. He then turned to Leonard, and very cautiously reached out to take his hand in his own. Leonard honestly felt a little weak at the knees, which was embarrassing to say the least. He gulped, suddenly feeling incredibly nervous, especially with Joanna in the other room. Pavel squeezed his hand, but made no other moves toward him.

 

“Leonid, I just wanted to say something,”

 

Leonard could barely breathe. “Y-yeah?”

 

“You are _so_ good-looking,” Pavel blurted out. “I am sorry to be blunt, but is driving me a little crazy. I had to tell you.”

 

Oh, Christ. “I, well thanks, Pavel… I mean, uh… You’re pretty darn cute yourself…”

 

God, this was embarrassing. He was tripping over his own words because of a damn nineteen-year-old. But Pavel smiled at him adoringly, his cheeks an adorable tinge of pink and then he moved a little closer, shyly slipping his arms around Leonard’s waist and resting his cheek on his chest. Leonard honestly felt like he was having a heart attack in that moment. Pavel Chekov was hugging him. And he was hugging back, he noticed, before he could even stop his body from moving. He couldn’t help but to think just how perfectly Pavel fit into his arms, and that this felt so incredibly… Right.

 

Pavel pulled back from the embrace. “I have wanted to do that for quite a while now,”

 

“I think I have, too,” Leonard admitted quietly.

 

“Leonid, I unfortunately need to go back home now. I have plenty of study to do. But I will see you again tomorrow, I am sure of it.”

 

Leonard just nodded at him. Then Pavel surprised him yet again by leaning up on his toes a little to press the softest, most delicate little kiss on Leonard's cheek. If he hadn’t already been bright red in the face before, he definitely was now. Leonard stood in the middle of his kitchen, completely and utterly stunned, and honestly a little smitten. Wordlessly, he led Pavel out to the door and they said their goodbyes. Leonard absentmindedly reached up to touch the skin where Pavel’s lips had just been and felt the tiniest flutter in his stomach.

 

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I hope you all enjoyed more punk/indie Pavel. He's my favourite.  
> \- Also I am not sure why he turned out to be vegan but???? It is what it is?  
> \- Joanna is the sweetest angel.  
> \- Leonard is also the sweetest angel and I need to protect him at all costs.  
> \- Jim/Bones friendship is my life.  
> \- I forgot to mention (I deleted the notes on chapter 1), I have not named Len's ex wife Jocelyn like people normally do. In the Star Trek comics, her name is Pamela.  
> \- I am not in the slightest bit sorry for putting some music/lyrics in this chapter. I am an absolute ho' for music in my writing.  
> \- Again, I'm Australian, so hopefully this all sounds relatively legit?  
> \- Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you might like to see in the next chapter.


	4. Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonard meets Spock, Joanna has her first tutoring session with Pavel, Leonard goes to Pavel's gig, and Leonard and Pavel discuss what things are between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Hello! I have finally updated.  
> This chapter is relatively long, and I hope that's not an issue?  
> (It's also mostly fluff).  
> Anyway, enjoy!

“What do you feel like for dinner tonight, Jo?”

 

“Um… How about spaghetti bolognaise?”

 

Leonard was pushing a shopping cart through the supermarket, Joanna trailing behind, playing on her phone and not really paying attention. He had just picked her up from school, and they needed to stop in for ingredients. It was Wednesday, and tonight Pavel was coming around to give Joanna her first tutoring session. The plan had been for him to stay for dinner, and Leonard was struggling to think of something they could have that could also be made vegan. Damn kid and his ethical beliefs. Leonard couldn’t help but to smile at them, though.

 

“Honey, that has meat in it. Pavel doesn’t eat meat, remember?”

 

Joanna glanced up from her phone. “You can get fake meat, Daddy. It’s in the frozen section,”

 

“Oh,”

 

Leonard felt pretty dumb in that moment – his eleven-year-old daughter had more of an idea about vegan foods than he did. He continued pushing the cart along through the aisles, grabbing the ingredients they would need such as pasta, the bolognaise sauce, and parmesan cheese. Once they had gone to collect the beef mince, Leonard pulled his phone from his pocket as he and Joanna then headed over to the frozen foods.

 

Pavel answered on the third ring. “Hello?”

 

Leonard smiled at the sound of his voice. “Hey. You still good to come over tonight?”

 

“Of course, Leonid!” Pavel answered. “Five thirty, yes?”

 

“Uh huh. We’re gonna make spaghetti for dinner. Any particular… Vegan mince… I should buy?”

 

“Oh, no, you do not need to accommodate for me. I can bring something from home to eat.”

 

“It isn’t an option, Pavel,” Leonard said sternly. “You’re tutorin’ Jo, so I’m damn well gonna feed you dinner.”

 

Pavel sighed. “You are too good to me. Whichever brand you see first that says is vegan will do, I am not fussy.”

 

“Alright, no problem. We’ll see you soon,”

 

Leonard stood for a few moments with the freezer door open, letting the cold air out as he studied the different packages of frozen mock-meats. Finally, he managed to pick one out that looked completely safe for Pavel to eat, and tossed it into the shopping cart. He decided to stop by the long-life milk aisle and get some soy milk, too, just in case Pavel would want any at some point.

 

As he and Joanna were about to line up at the express checkout, he heard a familiar voice call his name.

 

“Bones!”

 

Leonard turned in search of his best friend. “Jim?”

 

Suddenly he spotted him sauntering on over from the candy aisle; such an infant. Leonard noticed he wasn’t alone. Walking alongside him was a man he hadn’t seen before. He was incredibly tall, with short black hair cut neatly around his face, and large ears that were pointed at the tips. Leonard raised an eyebrow. He was a funny looking fellow, to say the least, but as the two got closer, Leonard realised the stranger was actually quite handsome in a… Strange, foreign kind of way.

 

“Hey, Bones,” Jim greeted with a huge smile. “Jo, how are you?”

 

“Good thanks, Uncle Jim! …Who’s your friend?”

 

The other man smiled politely. “Pardon me, I do not believe we are acquainted. You must be Leonard. And this is your daughter Joanna? I am Spock, Jim’s partner.”

 

Leonard had to smile at that last part. It was sweet that this Spock guy seemed so open and comfortable announcing that he and Jim were a couple. He noticed his best friend blush a little from it, too. Joanna was staring at Spock curiously, probably noting his unusually shaped ears as well as his foreign sounding name. She seemed to go all shy, and moved closer to Leonard.

 

“Jo’s a bit shy. But it’s good to finally meet you, Spock,” Leonard shook his hand. “What are you guys up to?”

 

Jim lifted his shopping basket. “Convinced him to have a movie night with me. Had to stock up on snacks,”

 

“Good, God. You poor man. Jim has the worst taste in movies, Spock. I feel sorry for you,”

 

Spock’s lips quirked. “I am certain his company will make up for any lack in film choice,”

 

Jim rolled his eyes, but didn’t stop grinning. “What are you and Jo doing tonight?”

 

Leonard slipped his arm around her shoulder, giving her a squeeze. “Jo’s having her first tutorin’ session with Pavel. He’s gonna help her out with some math homework,”

 

“That’s cool,” Jim said. “I’m sure he’ll be a big help, Jo. You getting along okay with Pavel?”

 

Joanna nodded shyly. “He’s very nice and makes me laugh. He makes Daddy laugh, too. I like that,”

 

Leonard felt his face colour, but Spock spoke before he could attempt to change the subject.

 

“Is it Mister Pavel Chekov you are referring to?”

 

“Yep. Jim mentioned you’ve taught him before?”

 

Spock gave a stiff nod. “Indeed, during his first semester at the University. Now that he is nearing the end of his Undergraduate Degree, he is spending more time with Doctor Montgomery Scott who specialises in Quantum Mechanics and Engineering,”

 

This kid was beginning to surprise him more and more. “Jeez, I can’t believe he’s only nineteen and studyin’ this kinda stuff.”

 

“Yes, Mr Chekov is truly remarkable. I have taught many students in my time as a professor, and he is unmatched thus far.”

 

“Funny to think he’s this little punk kid,” Leonard smirked. “Anyway, we’d better get goin’ before he wonders where we’ve gotten to. See you around soon?”

 

Jim nodded, clapping him on the shoulder. “We’ll make sure to drop by within the next week. I’ll call you,”

 

Spock seemed to raise his eyebrows slightly at the “we” part of the response, but said nothing. They exchanged quick goodbyes and continued on through the checkout, Leonard paying for the groceries and handing Joanna a paper bag to carry out to the car. They drove the quick five minutes back to the apartment with the radio playing and Joanna singing along to some pop song Leonard didn’t know.

 

Inside the lobby, Pavel was waiting for them not too far away from the entryway doors. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded, seemingly not paying a lot of attention. Leonard noted that he wasn’t wearing his usual punk get-up for once. Instead, he was dressed in cargo pants and a soft, grey pullover. His typical Doc Marten boots had been replaced with a ratty looking pair of black and white sneakers that Leonard thought might be Vans? He looked really quite cute, and Leonard had to smile when the kid noticed he and Joanna walk in, immediately rushing over to take the paper bags.

 

“Relax, kid,” Leonard chuckled. “It’s just two bags.”

 

Pavel began to walk to the elevator. “I know, I know. But you purchased special items just for me, so I want to help,”

 

Too damn sweet, this kid.

 

The three of them rode up in the elevator together, Joanna chatting openly with Pavel about her day at school. Once inside the apartment, they went straight into the kitchen where Leonard ordered the other two to go and start the tutoring session while he unpacked the groceries and got everything organised for dinner. He could overhear his daughter and Pavel discussing the sort of math problems she had trouble with, and couldn’t help but smile as he glanced over at the kitchen table, watching Pavel patiently explain different methods of working them out.

 

Leonard set to work on their dinner, boiling the water for the pasta first and getting out two separate frying pans for the different types of mince. He quickly double checked that the pasta he had bought was egg free – it was. He chopped up some fresh tomato to add to the bolognaise sauce, and some basil, then picked up the plastic packet of mock-meat, studying the instructions on how to cook it properly. Abruptly, he felt a tentative hand on his waist. He nearly jumped.

 

“Can I do anything to help?” Pavel’s voice asked, suddenly beside him.

 

Leonard turned. “Surely you can’t be done yet?”

 

“No,” Pavel shook his head. “But Joanna is doing some of her homework problems on her own – she told me she wanted to try,”

 

“I see. How’s she goin’?” Leonard handed him the packet of fake-mince. “Cook that for me, will ya?”

 

Pavel complied, pouring the contents into the hot frying pan. “Joanna is very bright, very intelligent. She will have no troubles getting back on track with her Mathematics classes.”

 

“That’s great to hear. I really appreciate this, Pavel. Thank you,”

 

Pavel simply smiled at him and slipped a free arm around Leonard’s waist, giving him a quick squeeze whilst leaning his head into Leonard’s shoulder. He couldn’t breathe for a moment, terrified that Joanna might see them. He glanced over his shoulder at the kitchen table where his daughter sat with her back turned to them, concentrating on her math homework. Leonard very quickly returned the affectionate gesture by mirroring the little hug, and then pulled away gently to go and fetch some bowls and cutlery for everyone.

 

“Pavel!” Joanna called. “I’m finished! Can you come check if they’re right?”

 

Leonard waved him away, immediately continuing on with all of the cooking. As he stirred in the bolognaise sauce in each frying pan, he could overhear words of praise coming from Pavel, telling Joanna that she had gotten “almost all of them right”, and she just needed to “practice a little more”. This made Leonard smile to himself. Her first tutoring session with Pavel, and he was already helping her immensely. He found himself thinking crazy thoughts; that Pavel had come out of nowhere, but was quite clearly a blessing in both of their lives. He had already helped both he and Joanna so much, and it had only been barely 2 months since Pavel had moved in next door.

 

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Leonard turned the knobs on the stove off. The two sets of mince were ready, as was the pasta, so he set to work getting the food organised so everybody would be able to serve themselves. In a few more moments, everything was laid out on the kitchen bench ready. Leonard walked over the kitchen table and peered over Joanna and Pavel’s shoulders, seeing that his daughter was completing her final homework problem with him. He smiled at Pavel’s patience.

 

“Okay, guys,” he said quietly, not to scare them. “Dinner’s ready when you are.”

 

“I’ll be done in a minute,” Joanna replied, not lifting her head.

 

Pavel looked up from his seat and beamed at Leonard before following him back into the kitchen to help himself to his own dinner. Soon, they were all sitting at the kitchen table eating together. Leonard himself felt particularly quiet, but not uncomfortably. He was… Content. He was enjoying sitting down at the table with his daughter, and someone he may one day consider a lover… A partner. A few times, Pavel caught Leonard staring at he and Joanna, and blushed prettily before returning back to his food with a smile.

 

“Leonid, thank you for accommodating for me. This is wonderful,” Pavel complimented. He had a bit of spaghetti sauce on his chin.

 

“No problems at all. Really appreciate you helpin' Jo out, so it’s nothin',” he grinned at the kid’s now dirty face. “Uh, Pavel, you got a little somethin’… Your chin…”

 

He went bright red and immediately scrubbed at the sauce with a napkin. “Well this is embarrassing…”

 

“Nah; pretty funny actually.”

 

Pavel glared, but it turned into a smile. “Hush, you,”

 

“What’s ‘Quantum Mechanics’?” Joanna asked suddenly, interrupting.

 

Pavel immediately stopped eating. “Ah, is hard to explain… You may not understand… But it has a lot to do with the mathematics of motion, and interactions between subatomic particles. Then things like quantization of energy comes into it, as well as wave duality, and so on.”

 

Both Leonard and Joanna stared at him as if he were from another planet, which caused Pavel to blush deeply and give them a weak smile.

 

“You know of Stephen Hawking, yes?” He said.

 

Joanna nodded. “Uh huh,”

 

“He was a great physicist and mathematician who worked a lot on Quantum Theory and Quantum Mechanics. He discovered that black holes emit radiation, and is now known as ‘Hawking radiation’. I am not sure that this explains more simply what is Quantum Mechanics, though. Just know that the great Stephen Hawking worked on it,” Pavel looked lost in his own words.  

 

“I still don’t get it,” Joanna said plainly. “At the supermarket today, we ran into Uncle Jim, and his friend Spock. He says he taught you at your University, and that now you do stuff with someone called ‘Scott’ who works on Quantum Physics. I was just wondering what it is,”

 

“You saw Professor Spock?!” Pavel beamed. “How is he? Nyota only recently told me that he and Jim are seeing each other,”

 

Leonard nodded. “Polite enough guy. He spoke real high of you; said you’re ‘truly remarkable’, and ‘unmatched’ to the other students he’s taught.”

 

Pavel squirmed in his seat, fighting a proud grin. “He really said this?”

 

“Sure did,” Leonard smiled softly. He felt a little proud himself, honestly. “And I mean, he’s not exactly lyin’ is he? You are pretty amazin’, bein’ so young and knowin’ this sorta stuff,”

 

He blushed the moment he’d realised he’d said that out loud and glanced at Joanna, wondering how she had reacted. But she had finished her dinner and was now doing something on her phone, seemingly not taking any notice of them. Breathing a quick sigh of relief, Leonard collected everyone’s bowls and took them over to the sink where he quickly rinsed them. God, he really wanted some time alone with Pavel. Mainly so he could speak to him in a way that displayed his interested without Joanna having to bear witness.

 

“Daddy, can I please use the computer?” Joanna called.

 

Perfect. “Sure, honey. But I want you off by eight o’clock,”

 

“Okay!”

 

Pavel almost instantly entered the kitchen and into Leonard’s personal space (not that he was complaining). The kid was touching his waist again, as if it were the only safe place he knew to touch Leonard. Probably was, too, considering he got incredibly nervous around Pavel. That in itself was embarrassing, since he was thirty-two and had been previously _married_. He knew how to date, how to flirt, and share those first few touches that let each other know you were both interested. But somehow, this felt so different. It was as if Leonard was scared to ruin things before they even started. He pushed the thought away quickly.

 

“You uh, want a hot drink or somethin’?” He asked.  
  
  
  
Pavel smiled sheepishly. “I would actually love a coffee,”

 

“Coffee?! Pavel, it’s nearly seven o’clock! You’ll be up half the damn night!”

 

He shrugged. “I am usually awake all hours of the night studying anyway. It does not really affect me,”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes and let his hand brush over Pavel’s before stepping over to the fridge and grabbing the soy milk he had purchased earlier that day. He retrieved the coffee plunger from the cupboard, switched the kettle on to boil, and began measuring out the ground beans. Pavel quite abruptly noticed the vegan milk sitting on the bench and broke into an enormous grin.

 

“You bought me soy milk?!” He exclaimed.

 

Leonard shrugged. “Figured I may as well if you’re gonna be here a few times a week,”

 

“That is so sweet of you, Leo, thank you.” Pavel blushed at the use of the nickname.

 

It made Leonard freeze momentarily, in a good way. He suddenly felt… Gooey. Which was a weird thing for Leonard McCoy to ever feel. He cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks burning a little, and continued preparing the coffee for Pavel who was looking rather sheepish.

 

“You’re welcome, Pasha,” he finally answered. “How many sugars?”

 

Pavel was grinning like an idiot. “You called me Pasha,”

 

“Yep,” Leonard smiled back. “Now – sugars?”

 

“Three, please,”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes at the answer, but began making Pavel his soy coffee. Just as he was about to pick up the mug and hand it to him, Leonard found himself enveloped in an enormous hug. His initial reflex was to push Pavel away out of fear of Joanna walking in, but the second instinct was much stronger – to hug back. And so he did, sliding his arms around Pavel’s shoulders, hands moving down to the middle of his back, tentatively rubbing at the fabric of his pullover. Leonard rested his head on top of Pavel’s little mop of curls, enjoying the feeling of soft hair brushing against his cheek. Oh, how he had missed this.

 

“I like you, Leo,” Pavel murmured, squeezing a little tighter. “A lot,”

 

And damn it if he didn’t like the kid, too.

 

 

* * *

 

 

As Leonard stepped into the small, overcrowded bar on Friday night, he almost instantly wanted to leave. The floor was sticky beneath his boots, and the music playing through the overhead speakers was deafeningly loud. This was the exact opposite to the kind of place Leonard would ever willingly choose to go to. He did at least note, however, that the people in said bar seemed to be relatively friendly. Most of them had their hair dyed all sorts of crazy colours, or a face full of piercings, or both. It was definitely Pavel’s sort of place, that was for sure. His phone beeped for a text, and he pulled it from the pocket of his jeans.

 

 **Jim Kirk [8:14pm]**  
_Everything okay. Just watching Mean Girls with Jo before she goes to bed :-)_

 

Leonard smirked at the text he had just received. It was more than likely that Jim had been the one to suggest the film they were watching; he did have a weak spot for those sorts of cheesy movies. He sent a quick reply to say thank you, and wished them a good rest of the night. As he was re-pocketing his cell, he noticed a familiar curly-haired Russian weaving his way through the small crowds of people toward him. Leonard couldn’t help but to smile when Pavel finally stood before him and reached out to greet him with a bear hug.

 

“Is so good to see you, Leo!” Pavel all but shouted into Leonard’s ear.

 

He winced a little, and shouted back. “Uh, you too!”

 

Pavel drew back from the embrace to stand beside Leonard, and he was suddenly very conscious of a hand sliding into his own. Feeling a little short of breath, he glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention, but quickly realised that they weren’t. Not allowing his nerves to get the better of him, Leonard laced his fingers with Pavel’s and felt his entire arm tingle from the sensation. It was such a simple action, yet it felt incredible to be doing it again after many years without.

 

“Come, follow me!” Pavel shouted again. “We will go somewhere quiet!”

 

Leonard allowed himself to be dragged through the masses of people, still clutching onto Pavel’s hand, until he found himself in a tight corridor. Two security types were stood nearby, and they raised their chins in an authoritive manner when they noticed Leonard.

 

“Ah, is okay, he is with me,” Pavel said.

 

They received a nod in response, and Leonard was led through into a small space that he could only assume was a Green Room or something similar. Inside, he noticed three other people sharing a mouldy looking couch, all fiddling around on cell phones. They all looked to be around Pavel’s age. The guy on the end of the couch had a shaved head, and was wearing an almost identical outfit to Pavel of tight jeans, a worn out band t-shirt, and Doc Marten boots. In the middle was a girl with black hair cut into a bob, but Leonard noticed it had been shaved underneath. The last person he noticed was another male with dark skin and dreadlocks down past his shoulders. Leonard had never felt so out of place in his entire life.

 

“Guys, this is Leonid,” Pavel announced, lifting their joined hands in a hello.

 

The girl looked him up and down and grinned mischievously. “So this is the hot dad, hey Pav?”

 

He blushed hard and kicked her foot. “I am never telling you anything ever again!”

 

“Nice to meet you, man,” she laughed. “I’m Maisie, play lead guitar for the band,”

 

The guy with the shaved head barely looked up from his phone. “Jack – vocals and rhythm,”

 

 “I’m Mike, and if you hadn’t already guessed, I’m the drummer,”

 

Leonard cleared his throat a little. “Nice to meet you all. What’s the name of your band again?”

 

“ _’Gen: F U’_ ,” Jack replied, pocketing his phone. “Also known as ‘ _Generation: Fuck You’_ ,”

 

“Uh, yeah, I figured as much,”

 

Jack rolled his eyes. “Ugh, Pav, I bet this old dude doesn’t even know who _Minor Threat_  are. Remind us again why you like him?”

 

Leonard decided he wasn’t a fan of this guy. “Believe it or not, kid, I _do_ know who they are, I just don’t happen to enjoy their music.”

 

“Jack, stop being a dick,” Pavel glared. It was the first time he had sworn around Leonard. “Just because I am punk, does not mean I have to date someone the same. Also, Leo is not old at all. I like him because he is gentle and kind,”

 

The room was silent for a few moments. Leonard could feel his face burning an equal red to Pavel’s from the conversation being had, but squeezed his hand in a silent thank you for sticking up for him. He wasn’t all that surprised by Jack’s attitude, though. Leonard was thirty-two, and that kid was probably 10 or more years younger. Plus, he absolutely radiated a “no-fucks-given” sort of attitude. Leonard decided not to dwell on it.

 

Jack lifted his hands defensively. “Alright, Pav, alright. Chill, dude,”

 

Somebody who looked like they worked at the bar suddenly opened the door to pop their head in. “Five minutes, guys,” and then they were gone again.

 

Pavel turned to Leonard and smiled up at him, those gorgeous green eyes twinkling, and he suddenly had zero doubts about being there. Yes, the bar was not his type of place to hang around. Yes, the other band members were quite obviously much younger than Leonard and less mature. But that one smile from Pavel, with eyes so full of adoration and gratefulness, had Leonard feeling incredibly glad that he had decided to come out and support him play tonight.

 

He pulled Pavel into a quick hug. “See you after the show,” he gave the rest of the band a small wave. “Good luck.”

 

Back at the main part of the bar, Leonard managed to find a free spot to squeeze into and stand with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting. It had been a very long time since had attended a music gig, and he was kind of hoping the set wouldn’t be too long, because the noise in the place was starting to get a little unbearable.  
  
  
  
A few moments later, Leonard watched as Pavel and the rest of his band walked on stage and picked up their instruments, making a few last minute adjustments to the tunings and volume. Pavel was positively beaming, and Leonard thought he looked so good up there on the stage. If the band turned out to be talented, it would be a pity that Pavel was set on a career in science.

 

Jack stepped up to the to the lead microphone. “We’re ‘ _Gen: F U’_ , and this is a cover from Billy Talent. Let’s make some noise!”

 

 

Leonard was immediately startled by the deafening sound of electric guitars and drums filling the entire bar. The opening riff was heavy, and very punk rock, and Leonard had to fight the urge to cover his ears. The small to medium sized crowd in front of the stage were shouting and singing along with Jack, jumping up around against each other, pushing and shoving. Leonard had never seen anything so ridiculous in his whole life.

 

 _You upper class daughters_  
_And working class sons._  
_It’s hard to save a dollar_  
_The way the world runs._  
  
_You’re the target market_  
_Of a corporate joke;_  
_It won’t be so ironic when_  
_Your daddy is broke_.  


Pavel was jumping up and down whilst simultaneously playing his bass guitar, his little mop of curls bouncing in the air. He suddenly leaned over to his own microphone and began to join in with the singing for what Leonard could only assume was the chorus.  

 

 _Surprise surprise!_  
_Surprise surprise!_  
_You’re much better looking_  
_When you’re in disguise!_  
  
_Surprise surprise!_  
_Surprise surprise!_  
_And this revolution_  
_Has been brought to you by!_

 

   
The band continued playing the rest of the song with exuberant amounts of energy. Jack seemed to be very passionate about the lyrics, because he was basically yelling them into the microphone and parading about on the stage. Soon, the crowd clapped and ‘ _Gen: F U’_ began to play their next song. Leonard remained standing still, trying to enjoy more of the punk music being played.

 

When that song, too, was over, Leonard applauded. It had been something about being a 'teenage anarchist'? The music hadn’t really been his cup of tea – again – but it was nice to watch Pavel up on stage leaping around and enjoying himself. Leonard watched in surprise as he suddenly went up to the microphone.

 

“This one is for Leo,” he said. The crowd ‘woo’d’ at him. 

 

Leonard felt a blush creep up his neck, and folded his arms over his chest, eager to hear Pavel sing a song that was apparently dedicated to him. An opening guitar riff played for a few moments, the sound of the bass drum kicking a beat filling the room, and then Pavel stepped closer to the mic again, beginning to sing. Surprisingly, the kid had a very smooth, sexy voice, and you could barely make out his Russian accent.

 

 _Have you no idea_  
_That you're in deep?_  
_I dreamt about you nearly_  
_Every night this week._  
  
_How many secrets can you keep?_  
_'Cause there's this tune I found_  
_That makes me think of you somehow_  
_When I play it on repeat,  
_ _Until I fall asleep._

 

 The crowd was really getting into the song now. By the way they were all singing along, Leonard decided it was another cover they were doing. He thought he might know it, but wasn’t entirely sure. All he knew right then, was that his face was burning red in the dark of the dimly lit bar, and his stomach had started to flutter.

 _Do I wanna know,_  
_If this feeling flows both ways?_  
_Sad to see you go;_  
_Was sorta hopin’ that you’d stay._  
_Baby, we both know_  
_That the nights are mainly made_  
_For sayin’ things that you_  
_Can’t say tomorrow day._  
_Crawlin’ back to you…_

 

As Pavel sang and played his bass, he stared in Leonard’s general direction the whole time, a playful smirk at his lips. He looked so cute up on there on stage in his usual punk-get up, and Leonard still couldn’t quite believe he was singing a song for _him_. Nobody had ever sung a song for him. 

 

 _So have you got the guts?_  
_Been wonderin’ if your heart’s_  
_Still open and if so I wanna know_  
_What time it shuts._  
_Simmer down and pucker up._

 _I’m sorry to interrupt,_  
_It’s just I’m constantly on the cusp_  
_Of tryin’ to kiss you._  
_But I dunno if you_  
_Feel the same as I do._  
_We could be together_  
_If you wanted to…_

  

The way Pavel sang that last line, so full of emotion, and… Want… Well, it made Leonard damn well weak at the knees. He found himself swaying in time to the music, and decided that when he was home again he would need to download the song onto his computer so he could play it and listen to it over and over again. Damn it, he _was_ in deep already; Jim was right.

 

“Thanks, guys! You’re awesome!” Jack shouted into the microphone after their final song. "And remember: _fuck capitalism_!"

 

Leonard rolled his eyes at that last comment. The band were then applauded one last time, and the overhead speakers were on again, pumping out an incredibly angry sounding song. Leonard quickly pulled out his phone, sending Pavel a text to let him know he would meet him outside; he needed a breather. Stepping out of the bar and into the crisp, night air was the biggest relief he had felt all day. His ears felt relaxed again, and he took in a deep breath, enjoying the freedom of not being squashed against a bunch of punk adolescents. He dialled Jim’s number and pressed the phone to his ear.

 

“Hey, Bones,” Jim answered blearily.

 

Leonard smiled. “Were you asleep?”

 

“What? No! Of course not…”

 

“You were asleep,”

 

“Ah, fine. I was. Fell asleep not long after Jo went to bed,”

 

“Such an infant,” Leonard said teasingly. “Everything go okay?”

 

“Yup, watched the movie after you left, and then Jo wanted to read a book for half an hour before she went to bed.” Jim yawned.

 

“Well, I’ll be back soon so you can head on home to bed,”

 

“Nah, Bones, you stay out a bit longer with Pavel. I’ll wait up; I’ve had my little nap,”

 

Leonard hesitated. He did want some alone time with Pavel. “… You sure?”

 

“’Course. Just make sure you give me details.” You could hear Jim’s grin through the phone.

 

“Goodnight, Jim,” Leonard rolled his eyes. “Thanks again. See you later,”

 

As he ended the call, Pavel came sauntering out of the bar’s entrance, guitar case in hand, and immediately headed over to him. Leonard greeted him with a soft smile and hesitantly reached out to pull him into a hug. He felt his stomach fill with a flickering heat as Pavel returned the gesture enthusiastically, wrapping his free arm around Leonard’s waist and grasping at the fabric of his shirt.

 

“Ya did good, Pasha,” Leonard said sincerely. “Not my sorta music, but you were great,”

 

Pavel pulled away to smile at him. “Thank you, Leo. Shall we go?”

 

“What about your buddies?”

 

“They are staying behind to watch the next band and have drinks. I said I would go home with you,”

 

Leonard nodded. They made the quick walk down a few streets to where he had parked and then climbed into his car. The drive home was relatively quiet, and Leonard could feel an awkwardness in the air. This was utterly ridiculous. They were both interested in each other, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to make any next moves. He felt like a damn teenager, not a grown adult.

 

Clearing his throat, Leonard glanced at Pavel in the passenger seat. “So uh, that song… That you sung…”

 

“Mm?”

 

“The lyrics… Were meant for me?”

 

Pavel nodded. “Sometimes is good to express feelings through a song,”

 

“Well, I just want ya to know…” Leonard sucked in a breath before continuing. “I do… Feel the same,”

 

Pavel simply smiled softly at him before reaching over the gearbox to lay his hand on top of Leonard’s. They continued the rest of the drive back to the apartments in a comfortable silence, hands clasped together on Leonard’s knee. Once they were inside the building and standing in front of their front doors, Pavel hesitated with his key in hand.

 

“Did you want to come in?” He asked.

 

Leonard really did. “Um… Well, I do, but…”

 

“You want to let Jim go home?”

 

“Yeah…” Then he remembered what Jim had said on the phone. “Ah, ya know, Jim did say he would stay up for me. I’ll come in for a little while,”

 

Pavel’s face lit up at the answer and he unlocked his door, Leonard following him inside, watching as Pavel placed his guitar by the wall. What happened a few moments later was the last thing he had been expecting. Leonard suddenly found himself backed up to the wall of the entryway with Pavel pressed against him. Panic took over, but before he could react, a pair of soft, warm lips were suddenly on his own and it felt like the whole world had exploded. Pavel was relatively aggressive for such a cute, small person and Leonard found himself letting out a moan in spite of himself when he began to kiss back. This caused Pavel to bite down on his bottom lip, and Leonard gently pushed at him so he would pull away. Much too fast. Way too soon.

 

Leonard spoke against Pavel’s lips. “Whoa. Hey. Pasha, slow down,”

 

“Ah, sorry, sorry…” he pulled away, exhaling sharply.

 

“Don’t get me wrong, that was incredible,” Leonard smiled. “But we need to talk about this.”

 

“Yes, okay. We will talk,”

 

Pavel retracted himself from Leonard’s arms and went through to the little dining area by his living room. They sat together at the small, wooden table and Leonard reached over to take Pavel’s hand in his own, trying to assure him that the conversation was supposed to be relaxed and open. He smiled at Leonard, rubbing his thumb over the top of Leonard’s hand.

 

“Look, Pasha,” Leonard started slowly. “I gotta know; what is it you want from me?”

 

Pavel frowned. “What do you mean? I thought I have been quite obvious,”

 

“Well, I mean, is this just a fling? You did tell your band friend you think I’m a ‘hot dad’, so... Is that what you’re after? Some fun with an older man?” Leonard was getting nervous now.

 

“Is that what you think? You really think I only want to sleep with you? Because you are older?”

 

“Well, I honestly don’t know, that’s why I’m havin' this conversation,”

 

Pavel withdrew his hand, making Leonard wince at the loss. “You think because I am young, all I want is sex?”

 

“Well _do you_?”

 

“Do you really think if I only wanted to get into bed with you, I would have made all of this effort to get to know your daughter? Or your best friend?” Pavel almost glared. “You are so _oblivious_ , Leonid.”

 

Leonard folded his arms over his chest defensively. “Watch your tone, kid,”

 

“Do not speak to me like I am a child. I am not a child.”

 

Leonard went quiet, jaw set, his temper starting to rise a little. He stared down at the table, avoiding all eye contact with Pavel and simply allowed himself to breathe. After a few moments, he felt Pavel’s hand on his arm and slowly looked up into apologetic eyes.

 

“I did not mean to sound rude,” he said softly.

 

Leonard nodded. “I know. It’s okay,”

 

“What is this really about, Leo?”

 

He sighed. “I just… It doesn’t make sense why you would want me if it wasn’t just for sex. I mean I know you’re real mature for your age and everything, but… I dunno,”

 

“Why does it not make sense?” Pavel stared with wide, questioning eyes.

 

“Because, Pasha, you’re so… I mean, look at you. You’re young and gorgeous, and you’ve got your whole future ahead o’ ya. Why on earth would you want somethin' with a divorced doctor? That has a kid, I might add,”

 

Pavel shrugged, taking a moment before he said quite simply, “You do not get to choose who you have feelings for.” He gave Leonard’s arm a squeeze. “I could argue with myself for hours and hours about the complications dating you will bring. In fact, I have. But at the end of the day, Leo, divorced or not divorced, a father or not a father; I have feelings for you. I cannot just make them stop,”

 

Leonard let this sink in. Pavel liked him, plain and simple. There was no catch, no actual explanation; it merely was. Leonard had spent all of this time worrying about how complicated things could get if he were to become romantically involved with Pavel, and yet here he was making them problematic all on his own by listening to the stories in his head. He sighed and slid his hand into Pavel’s, lacing their fingers together tightly.

 

“Well, I’m glad you can’t make them stop, ‘cause I feel the same way,” Leonard smiled.

 

“So does this mean we are officially dating now?”

 

Leonard felt nervous, but nodded slowly. “I can’t do casual, so if you think you could handle datin' a grumpy old doctor, then yeah.”

 

Pavel leaned over the table to kiss him softly. “It would be my pleasure,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- The gig part of this chapter was inspired by both the movie "Green Room", and Anton's band "The Hammerheads" (RIP, buddy).  
> \- I used google for the physics talk, so I hope it was legit enough?  
> \- My first time writing Spock! I hope I did okay.  
> \- I'm Australian, as I keep mentioning. Over here, we drink a lot of instant coffee. So I hope the method I used for coffee drinking was acceptable?  
> \- I love awkward/nervous Len a lot.  
> \- If you don't like the use of lyrics in my writing, I strongly suggest you don't read more updated, because I'm one of "those people".  
> \- Songs used/mentioned were "Surprise Surprise" by Billy Talent, "I Was A Teenage Anarchist" by Against! Me, and "Do I Wanna Know" by Arctic Monkeys.  
> \- Also, a comment I received on the last chapter said they disliked the way I write Pavel (I am assuming), because I am projecting my "political agenda" onto him. And that may be so, but as this is an AU, and not set in space, it literally relies on headcanons to work. If I didn't put headcanons into this, and explore with character's personalities etc, (especially ones we don't know much about to begin with), the story itself would go nowhere.  
> \- Hope you like this! I have ideas for the next chapter, but if there's something you'd love to see, let me know!


	5. New Experiences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonard tells Joanna about Pavel, Leonard reminisces his first experience with another man, Pavel convinces Leonard to buy an iPhone, the gang go out clubbing, and Leonard and Pavel share a first with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Hey there! Sorry I again took so long to update.  
> This chapter is 8000 words long or so, so I hope that kind of makes up for the wait?  
> It took me ages to put together. I hope you all like it.  
> Rating has officially been bumped up to E for Explicit!  
> (Also there's some McKirk in this!)  
> Enjoy!

Leonard stood at the door of Joanna’s room, peeking in through the small crack. She was sitting on her bed, reading a book, staring intently at the pages. He was trying to build up the courage to go in and chat with her about the situation with Pavel. She was eleven; she was bound to start getting suspicious sooner or later, and he didn’t want to keep secrets from her.

 

With a deep breath, he knocked on the door and pushed it open. She glanced up, slowly, as if she were finishing the sentence she had been reading. Joanna smiled at Leonard and he returned it, going and sitting on the end of her bed. She closed her book and stared at him expectantly.

 

“You okay, Daddy?”

 

He nodded. “Uh huh. Whatcha readin’?”

 

“Oh, it’s just from _The Hunger Games_ series: _Catching Fire_ ,” she answered, showing him the title.

 

“Ah, I see. And are you enjoyin’ it?”

 

“Yup. Did you need to talk about something?”

 

“Y-yeah… Actually, I do,” he said, trying to remain eye contact. “Do you have… A crush on Pavel?”

 

Joanna went bright red. “No,” she said quickly. “I mean… I used to. A little. But he likes boys, and he’s too old for me,”

 

“Much too old for you,” Leonard agreed.

 

“Do _you_ have a crush on Pavel?”

 

Leonard’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

 

Joanna shrugged. “You always seem happy when he’s around,”

 

Leonard took a deep breath, and stared down at his hands. He quite suddenly had the urge to run out of Joanna’s bedroom and not return for several hours. He _wanted_ to tell her the truth, but the truth was damn terrifying for so many different reasons. She was staring at him in question, an eyebrow raised just like he would often do in a similar position. The realisation caused him to chuckle softly a little, and he felt somewhat calmer.

 

“I do feel happy when he’s around, Jo,” he finally replied. “You know when Uncle Jim looked after you Friday night?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Well, Pavel and I went on a date that night…”

 

Joanna smirked a little. “ _You_ went on a date?” She asked as if that was an insane thing for Leonard to do. “What did you do?”

 

“Pavel’s in a band, and I went to see them play,”

 

“You went and saw a band?!” Joanna was grinning widely now. “That’s so funny to picture you seeing a band.”

 

Leonard crossed his arms with a smile. “Oh really now? Why’s that?”

 

“Because you’re… Old!”

 

Leonard pulled a face at her to feign being offended, and then lurched over to her and began tickling her ribs. She squealed, falling onto her back and kicking her legs out in protest, laughing. He continued his tickling torture for a few minutes before finally stopping, and sitting up on her bed again, grinning at his daughter who was now red in the face from her laughter and struggle.

 

“So… Does that mean you and Pavel are like, boyfriends now?” She asked curiously.

 

Leonard swallowed thickly. “Well, how would you feel if we were?”

 

She moved quickly to wrap her smalls arms around his middle. “I just want you to be happy, Daddy…”

 

He felt his breath catch in his throat, and pulled her into a tight hug, resting his chin atop her head. Joanna was truly the sweetest girl he had ever known and he felt tears stinging his eyes behind their closed lids. With a shaky exhale, willing himself not to cry, he kissed the top of her hair and squeezed her shoulders.  
  
“Love you, baby,” he murmured. “Thank you.”

 

“It’s okay. Love you, too,”

 

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the week went by rather quickly for Leonard. Joanna was back with her mother, and he had been working most of the early shifts at the hospital while another of the doctors was away on holiday. This always left time for he and Pavel to spend together once the two of them were home in the late afternoon. They had been having dinner with each other most nights, and if Pavel was too busy with studying or tutoring to see Leonard for a shared meal, he would still come over for a few hours in the later evening to snuggle up on the couch, TV playing in the background.

 

Whilst things were going quite smoothly, Leonard was already beginning to worry about some aspects of the relationship. They had been officially dating for a whole week now, seeing each other every single night, but still hadn’t moved past light making out and cuddling. Each time Pavel would make an attempt in that direction, slipping his hand up Leonard’s shirt, or climbing onto his lap, Leonard would freeze and have to pull away, mumbling embarrassed apologies. Luckily, Pavel had been an absolute saint with him, always assuring that it was okay, and happily resuming their cuddling position. He hadn’t once asked Leonard “why”, either, which he was just as grateful for.

 

Truth be told, Leonard was both embarrassed and nervous. He had next to no experience in this department, whereas Pavel seemed to have plenty. The only real experience Leonard had was a one-time occasion with Jim, which they rather conveniently had never spoken of since. (Mostly because Leonard would glare Jim down the few times he _had_ tried to bring it up).

 

He still remembered that night vividly, as if it hadn’t been four years since it even happened. It was the first year anniversary of he and Pamela’s divorce, and Leonard had practically begged Jim to take him out drinking. Initially, he was pretty against the idea, given Leonard’s already evident problem with alcoholism. But he had managed to convince him with a lie that he wanted to go out and meet someone. So, naturally, Jim was in complete wing-man-mode after that, and off they went to a random bar.

 

The night itself had been absolutely terrible. Leonard drank too much too quickly, and spent the majority of his time bitching to Jim about the divorce. He didn’t once bother to try and flirt with anybody at the bar, and when it hit one in the morning, Leonard promptly stood from the barstool he had been sitting on and vomited all over the cigarette stained carpet. It was easily one of his _less_ finer moments, but Jim wasn’t disgusted with him, or even the slightest bit annoyed. He just apologised to the barman, handed him a fifty for the inconvenience, and then hauled Leonard’s drunk ass into a cab back to his apartment.

 

Sitting on the couch nearly fifteen minutes later, Leonard tipped his head back to the ceiling and closed his eyes, willing himself not to throw up a second time. He promptly felt a glass being pushed into his hand, and held onto it, opening his eyes to see Jim standing in front of him. With a weak smile, Leonard sipped carefully at the water as his best friend joined him on the couch. They sat in silence for what felt like hours while Leonard slowly started to feel better.  
  
  
  
“So sorry, Jim,” he mumbled, feeling highly embarrassed at his own behaviour.

 

Jim surprised him by reaching between them and taking his hand in his own, giving it a tight squeeze. He looked up at Leonard with a sad smile on his face. “I’m just really worried about you, Bones. I know this is hard, and it’s been a year today and everything, but… She’s not worth it; she’s not worth _this_. It wasn’t your fault. You gotta stop beating yourself up about it.”

 

Leonard didn’t believe him for a second. “I shoulda seen it comin’. I clearly wasn’t enough, Jim. I thought I was… I thought I did enough… Thought I was loyal enough, loved her enough... But I wasn’t… I’m not good enough. Not for anyone,”

 

“Stop it,” Jim said sternly. “You’re _are_ good enough. She was just too blind to see it.”

 

“I’m not, Jim! How could someone love me? I’m just a grouch. That’s what she said. She said I’m too grumpy, too work-orientated, too set in my ways – “

 

“Bones, you’re perfect! Okay? You’re perfect, and I’m sorry she couldn’t see that!”

 

Leonard stared at Jim as he let those words process. Had Jim just called him perfect?

 

“… What?”

 

“I said you’re perfect. And,” Jim leaned in a little closer. “ _I_ love you. Okay? I’m someone that loves you.”

 

Leonard could hardly breathe. Jim loved him? Was this a confession? Or was he simply trying to make Leonard feel better? Either way, he suddenly found himself thinking things he hadn’t ever really thought about before. Had Jim’s eyes always been that _blue_? His hair so soft looking? So damn perfect? Shit. How long had Jim been _this_ _handsome_ , and Leonard hadn’t even bothered to notice?

 

“I’m sorry,” Jim said suddenly. “I shouldn’t be talking to you like this when you’re drunk. It’s not fair. I should get you to bed and head home.”

 

But Leonard found he didn’t _want_ Jim to stop talking the way he was, and he _definitely_ didn’t want him to go home, either. Thinking quickly, he roughly took Jim’s face in his hands and pulled him in close. When their mouths met, it was messy and full of teeth. Jim all but squeaked at the sudden action, and Leonard found himself in a crisis of conscience. He had never considered himself attracted to men until this moment. It was only typical that Jim Kirk would be the one to make him question his sexuality.

 

Leonard found he didn’t care, though. He simply continued kissing his best friend, enjoying the feeling of warm, soft lips on his own after so long. Jim moaned into the kiss, and he felt a slick tongue licking into his mouth. It didn’t take long before things started to get really heated, full of desperate little pants and hisses, both of their hands gripping at each other wildly in pushes and shoves.  
  
  
  
Leonard groaned. “Jim, fuck, this is so – “

 

“Good?” Jim said with a loopy grin.

 

“Haven’t done this before,” he mumbled against his best friend’s mouth.

 

“I know,”

 

Such a cocky, knowing bastard, Leonard thought. But his attention quickly refocused when he felt Jim reach down to cup his dick through his jeans. Holy _shit_. He heard a strangled noise escape the back of his throat when Jim began to stroke him, and then slipped down onto the floor in between Leonard’s legs. His stomach fluttered, and his cheeks were bright red, and _Jesus Christ_ was he hard. Jim’s fingers were poised over his zipper.

 

He licked his lips. “Bones, can I blow you?”

 

 _Fuck_. “Y-yeah,” he managed to stutter out.

 

Jim grinned impishly before pulling Leonard’s jeans open and yanking the waistband of his underwear down his hips, revealing his erection. Leonard swallowed. Jim had seen him naked before – a few times accidentally – but this was different. This time Jim was staring at him, at his _cock_ , and his eyes were round, and black, and full of lust. _Shit shit shit_. This was actually going to happen. Leonard was about to have his dick sucked by his best friend and he’d be a damn liar if he said he wasn’t incredibly eager at this point.

 

Suddenly, Jim’s lips were on him, and he let his head fall back into the couch with a very generous moan. He absentmindedly reached out to comb his fingers through Jim’s soft, blond hair while he received the best damn blowjob of his life. However, it was only a few moments later that he felt his stomach begin to coil, which surprised him. Jim was good, but he wasn’t _that_ good; he couldn’t be coming already. Could he?

 

When he felt his mouth fill with saliva, Leonard realised that he definitely _wasn’t_ about to come and shoved roughly against Jim’s shoulders, pushing him away. He faintly heard his best friend cry out in protest as he leapt up to race into the bathroom where he promptly vomited into the sink.

 

As he continued to heave over the basin, Leonard was vaguely conscious of Jim beside him, rubbing his back soothingly and murmuring to him. And when he finally got everything out of his system, Jim helped Leonard get into bed, leaving a fresh glass of water and some Advil on the nightstand. He kissed Leonard on the forehead, promised that everything was okay and then left to sleep in the spare room.

 

The morning after, they shared breakfast in an uncomfortable silence until Leonard finally piped up with a gruff clearing of his throat.  
  
  
  
“We don’t need to talk about it. We’re all good.”

 

Jim just smiled and nodded.

 

 

* * *

 

 

On Saturday, Leonard and Pavel went to the mall together. It wasn’t really the place he had wanted to be on his weekend off, but Pavel had requested his company when he went to the Apple Store to purchase a new laptop. Naturally, Leonard could hardly say no to the curly-haired Russian, and they were currently now inside the huge, tech-filled store.

 

It was overwhelming for Leonard, to say the least. Not only was practically everything a blinding white and silver, there were a lot of people, and the buzz of customer and employee conversation was incredibly loud.  
  
  
  
Pavel led him over to where the laptops were – _MacBooks_ , he reminded himself – with a tug on the hem of his shirt. They weren’t quite being public just yet, which Leonard was relieved about. It was one thing to be mildly out of the closet and dating another man, but holding his… Boyfriend’s hand out in public, was a whole other story entirely. _Not yet_ , he had decided.

 

“Jesus, Pasha, they’re so expensive!” Leonard said, alarmed when he looked at the little plastic displays showing their prices.

 

He shrugged. “They are, but they are good computers. I like them, at least. I have had my current one for quite a few years now, but is time to upgrade.”

 

“Can you even afford this? You’re a student, remember,”

 

“Of course. I do not spend a lot of my money, is mostly saved for things like this.”

 

Leonard was still dubious, but nodded. “Alright, well, which one you thinkin’ of gettin’?”

 

“This one,” Pavel pointed to a small, compact laptop. “In the gold, I think. Is nice, no?”

 

“I guess? You’re really askin’ the wrong guy,” Leonard smiled.

 

Pavel fiddled on the laptop as they awaited assistance. “You know, Leo, perhaps whilst we are here you could consider getting an iPhone.”

 

“Why the hell would I wanna do that? The phone I have is fine,”

 

“Oh?” Pavel grinned. “It was only yesterday you complained to me you are having difficulty hearing people on it, because the sound cuts in and out. I think is time for you to get a new one,”

 

Leonard sighed, knowing Pavel was probably right. “Why do I need to get a damn iPhone, though?”

 

“Well we are here, in a store that sells them, so I see no reason why not,”

 

“I wouldn’t have a clue how to use the darn thing if I _did_ get one,”

 

Abruptly, a young man wearing the issued purple t-shirt with the Apple logo stepped up to Leonard and Pavel. He smiled brightly at them. “Hi, guys! Anything I can help you with?”

 

“Yes, thank you!” Pave responded with an equally happy grin. “I am interested in this MacBook, and I think Leonid here is considering getting an iPhone.”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes. “Apparently,”

 

“Cool, no problem!” The employee replied with enthusiasm. “Leonard, why don’t you follow me over to the iPhone table, and I’ll send someone else to give you a hand with that MacBook!”

 

Pavel nodded eagerly, and Leonard was suddenly being led over to a large, timber-made table decked out in a dozen different iPhones on their little mounted displays. He literally had no clue what any of them were. Some were the size of his palm, others in between, and one specific model was kind of enormous. They all seemed to come in six different colours (according to their little signs): jet black, (regular) black, space grey, gold, silver, and rose gold.

 

“So,” the employee asked. “I’m Josh! You’re thinking of getting an iPhone, then?”

 

Leonard shrugged. “I wasn’t originally, but Pavel over there seems to think I should at least consider it while we’re here.”

 

“Ah, right. Not to sound rude, but you seem the type to still have a pretty old phone.”

 

“You’d be right, kid. But it’s finally on its last legs, so go on; try to convince me why I should get one of these damn things.” Leonard crossed his arms.

 

“Alright, well firstly, do any of them catch your eye?” Josh raised his eyebrows in question.

 

Leonard stared at the phones again for a few moments, before pointing at one. “I like the colour and size of this one,”

 

“Nice! That’s a space grey, iPhone 6s,”

 

“Er, is that good?”

 

Josh nodded slightly. “It is, but it’s not the latest model. I personally would recommend the newer model, which is the 7. The 7 comes in the two different black colours – one is jet black, which has a glossy finish – but the 6s comes in space grey instead of the two types of black. The plain black for the 7 is very similar to space grey, if that’s the colour you’re after,”

 

“How much more for the newer one?”

 

“It’s an extra hundred, so really it’s up to you. The 7 has a better camera, and a faster processor. It also runs the latest software much better,”

 

Leonard sighed; apparently this was happening. “Alright, the 7 sounds fine. In the normal black, I think.”

 

“Cool! So, what capacity size were you thinking? 32, 128, or 256 gigabytes?” Josh asked, typing something into the iPod he had.

 

“I’d say 32 is plenty,” Leonard replied. “And I just wanna buy it as it is, no plan or anythin’,”

 

Josh nodded. “Okay. Would you like me to set it up for you?”

 

“That’s music to my ears, kid. I wouldn’t have the first idea of what to do with it if I tried myself,”

 

“Alright, awesome. And how about a case?”

 

“Uh, sure. Just grab somethin’ that’s the same colour, whatever you recommend, don’t need no bells and whistles or nothin’,”

 

As Josh went to retrieve Leonard’s new phone and case from a nearby cupboard, Pavel sauntered on over with one of those speciality Apple bags that was seemingly holding his freshly purchased MacBook. He smiled at Leonard and briefly rubbed his lower back in an affectionate hello. It barely lasted a second, but he was grateful for the little gesture.

 

“Happy with your new laptop, then?” He asked.

 

“ _Da_ , very much. So you are getting an iPhone?”

 

“Certainly looks that way,” Leonard nodded at Josh who was returning with the boxed item, and a plain black case that appeared to be the leather-style.

 

The employee set the box down and opened it. “Okay, I’ll just need your current phone for the SIM card, that way we can cut it down to size and I can transfer all of your numbers to the new phone.”

 

Leonard complied, pulling his cell out. He watched the Apple employee quickly and expertly removed his SIM card, using a little tool to cut it down to a nano-size, and then insert it into the iPhone.

 

“Leo, you are getting the iPhone 7?” Pavel asked excitedly. “I am jealous. I only have the 6,”

 

Josh saw this as an opportunity. “You wouldn’t want to upgrade, too, whilst you’re here?”

 

“ _Nyet_ ,” Pavel shook his head. “Sorry, no. My plan will be finishing soon, so I will upgrade then,”

 

“Fair enough! Alright, well, I’ve set up the basics for you,” Josh said to Leonard. “All your contacts have been loaded on, and the SIM seems to be working. I’m sure your friend here can show you how to get an Apple account, and fiddle around with everything on it, right?”

 

“Yes, definitely!” Pavel answered.

 

Leonard rolled his eyes with a smile. “Well, I guess that’s that,” he said, getting his wallet to pay.

 

“Enjoy your new iPhone 7!” Josh said enthusiastically as he printed the receipt a few moments later. “If you have any troubles, obviously feel free to come back in and we can fix it up for you. Thanks for shopping with us today!”

 

They thanked Josh for his service and walked out of the store. Leonard could feel his new phone weighing down his pocket. Admittedly, he was quite curious to get home and play around on it with Pavel, who seemed equally excited about his own piece of new technology. They stopped in at the food court for some lunch, and then Leonard drove them back to the apartment, Pavel singing along to his music he had played through the car’s speakers on his phone.

 

Once inside his kitchen, Leonard placed the little Apple bag down onto the counter and opened up the box holding the rest of his purchase. There was a charger, obviously, and some earphones. He carefully took both out and removed the plastic wrapping, plugging the charging adapter into the electrical socket on the wall. He pulled his new phone from his pocket and inserted the charger, eyes curiously watching as the screen lit up with a green battery symbol, obviously indicating it was working. Leonard swiped across the screen to unlock it like he had seen other people do a thousand, but it didn’t unlock the phone, only brought up the camera application.

 

“Pavel,” he nearly yelled, “I can’t get the damn thing to unlock,”

 

 Pavel got up from his chair at the kitchen table. “What do you mean?”

 

“I swiped it like everyone does with these things, but this came up instead,” Leonard said, frustrated.

 

Pavel giggled. “Oh. You have to press down onto the home button to unlock. Is part of the new software update,”

 

“Ugh, why did I let you talk me into this…” He grumbled.

 

Pavel laughed at him some more before leaning into his shoulder, nuzzling him affectionately. This soothed Leonard’s irritation a little, and he wrapped an arm around Pavel before handing him the phone.

 

“Alright, show me how to do everything, then,” he said.

 

They spent the next twenty minutes or so going through all of the different settings on Leonard’s new phone, Pavel explaining how things worked and why. By the time they were finished, he had an Apple account – so he could download Apps apparently – and a passcode had been added. Leonard was about to put his phone back down to let it continue charging, when Pavel suddenly took it from him and opened up the camera.

 

“We must take a photo for your lock screen wallpaper!” He all but demanded.

 

Leonard rolled his eyes. “If you insist,”

 

Pavel angled the phone for a few seconds until the portrait shot was almost completely straight, and smiled brightly at the camera. Leonard, however, did not smile, just simply relaxed his face enough so he didn’t look entirely grumpy. He began to grow impatient when Pavel didn’t seem to be hitting the little button on the screen to take the shot.

 

“Come on, Pavel, take the damn thing already!”

 

Pavel shook his head. “Not until you smile, Leo!”

 

Leonard tried a tight smile, and suddenly Pavel turned his head to kiss him on the cheek. The action took him so by surprise that he suddenly felt his lips curving up into a full smile, teeth showing, and his face flushed a little. He saw the little blink on his phone screen as the photo was finally taken, and fought the urge to roll his eyes. Pavel clicked the little window to bring up the picture, and Leonard felt his heart swell a little as he saw it: Pavel looking so cute and happy, kissing Leonard on the cheek, and himself grinning like a prized idiot.

 

“Perfect,” Pavel said happily, clicking more on-screen options. “There, is now your lock screen.”

 

He quickly locked the phone, and then clicked the home button to show Leonard his new wallpaper. Leonard smiled at it and placed his cell back onto the counter before slipping his arms around Pavel’s waist. He leaned down to kiss him, pulling Pavel closer so they were chest to chest. He sighed against Leonard’s mouth, kissing back eagerly, hands reaching up and into Leonard’s hair. When Pavel began to gently grind against him, Leonard pulled away.

 

“Pasha, I’m sorry… I just…”

 

“Not yet?” Pavel asked, eyes lustful.

 

“Soon, though, I promise,”

 

Pavel kissed his jaw. “Is okay, Leo. I know this is obviously new for you,”

 

Leonard smiled at him gratefully and gathered him back into his arms for another hug, stroking his fingers through Pavel’s curls. They stood like that in the middle of the kitchen a few more moments before a startling sound filled the room. It made both of them jump, and Leonard quickly realised it was his new phone ringing and vibrating on the counter. He untangled himself from Pavel and reached over to grab it, seeing ‘Jim Kirk’ flashing on the screen.

 

“Hey, Jim,” he answered.

 

“Bones! What’s up?” The familiar, all-too-cocky voice sounded into Leonard’s ear.

 

“Just got back from the mall with Pavel; bought a new phone,”

 

“Shit, no way! Really? You finally got rid of that old brick of yours?”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes. “Yep. Got an iPhone 7 and everything,”

 

“Awesome, man,” Jim said, a laugh in his voice. “Hey so, are you and Pavel busy tonight?”

 

He glanced at Pavel who had returned to his new laptop at the kitchen table. “Nothin’ really planned, why?”

 

“Me, Spock and Nyota are going to go clubbing! You should – “

 

“Oh no, definitely not,” Leonard quickly interrupted. “I don’t do clubbing, Jim, you know that. The music is loud and terrible, and everyone grinds up against each other in a hazy mess,”

 

Jim sighed as if very frustrated. “Come on, Bones! It’ll be _fun_!”

 

“Jim wants to go clubbing?” Pavel suddenly piped up.

 

“Is that Pavel? Put your phone on loudspeaker!”

 

Leonard sighed and quickly glanced at his phone screen, hitting the correct button. “Alright, it’s on,”

 

“Hey, Pavel!” Jim said cheerily. “ _You_ wanna come clubbing with us, right?”

 

Pavel was in the kitchen again. “I would love to! Where were you thinking of going?”

 

“Probably _Rain_ , and maybe another place if Bones feels up to it,”  
  
  
  
Leonard glared at the phone. “Who said I was even goin’?”

 

“Oh come on, Leo!” Pavel grinned. “It _will_ be fun!”

 

“Yeah, _Leo_! Besides, if you don’t come, I’m sure some other _young_ dude will snatch up Pavel to dance with him,”

 

Leonard knew it was bait, but it didn’t stop the surge of jealousy that went through him. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But only one club, _and_ I’m not drinkin’,”

 

“Awesome! We’ll meet you at your place at 9!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

When Leonard knocked on Pavel’s door later than night, ready to go out, he almost felt his jaw drop at the sight that greeted him. Having gotten so used to the kid’s usual punk-type outfits, it was quite a shock to see him dressed the way he currently was. He was wearing all black, and everything was very tight fitting. His jeans hugged his running-toned legs perfectly, and the button down he was wearing – rolled to his elbows – clung to his obviously hard-muscled torso. The first few buttons were open, revealing smooth, pale collarbones that Leonard suddenly found himself wanting to put his mouth on. He cleared his throat to push the thoughts away.

 

“Um, wow,” he said lamely.

 

Pavel grinned, locking his apartment door. “You, too, Leo. You always look very handsome,”

  
Leonard felt his cheeks redden a little at the compliment and took Pavel’s hand, pulling him closer for a hello-kiss. It was returned enthusiastically with arms wrapped around his neck, and he forced himself to pull away before someone might see them. Pavel seemed to understand and detached himself from Leonard before leading the way over to the elevator. They rode down in comfortable silence before stepping out at the lobby to find Jim, Spock, and Nyota waiting for them by the entrance of the building.

 

Jim grinned widely. “Hey, you two!”

 

They crossed the room over to their friends. Leonard shook Spock’s hand in hello and gave Jim a friendly clap on the back. He watched as Pavel and Nyota shared a hug and a few giggles and whispers. Leonard fought the urge to roll his eyes at them. The group had decided they would walk to the club, since it was only about ten minutes away by foot. Once outside on the street, they all fell into an easy banter together.

 

“So what sort of club is this exactly?” Leonard asked, genuinely curious.  
  
  
  
“It’s an LGBT friendly club,” Nyota answered with a smile. “We wouldn’t feel safe anywhere else. Pasha and I have been before a few times,”

  
  
“Er, right, okay, sounds… Good?”

  
“Alright, I need details!” Jim announced. “Bones, are you and Pavel official or what?”

 

Leonard hadn’t actually talked to him about that yet. “Uh – “

 

“Yes we are!” Pavel answered for him with a huge smile.

 

Nyota tousled his curls as they walked. “Is that right, Pasha?” She teased. “You’ve only been pining after him since you moved in. At least now we won’t have to hear about how ‘ridiculously handsome’ you think your neighbour is all the time!”

 

“Oh no, I will probably still tell you that very frequently. Right now for example. How nice does Leo look in blue?”

 

Leonard blushed and rolled his eyes. “I’m right here, you know,” he grumbled.

 

“I completely understand your embarrassment, Leonard,” Spock said. “Jim will often proclaim how desirable he finds me whilst in public and within earshot of others.”

 

“Oh, come on, Spock, you love it!” Jim said playfully, slipping his arm around his partner’s waist.

 

Leonard smiled at them, and felt his grin grow wider as he watched Nyota take a hold of Spock’s free hand. It was still a little foreign to him seeing a polyamorous relationship, where three people all shared each other without any form of jealousy. The very idea of ever having to share Pavel with someone else made him feel physically ill. But, if the three of them were all happy and consenting, he had no issue with it. And frankly, it wasn’t his business anyway. So when Jim glanced back at Leonard, a question of approval in his eyes, he simply nodded with a smile that said ‘ _I’m happy for you’_.

 

When they reached the club, Jim apparently knew the bouncer and was able to jump the queue with everyone, as well as get them all in for free. Leonard didn’t want to know how Jim knew said bouncer – a very handsome, burly looking man – but he was grateful for not needing to pay the ridiculous entry fee. It was damn stupid that you had to pay money simply to dance inside a crowded venue; especially when the drinks were overpriced, too.

 

Inside, Leonard was instantly overwhelmed by the loud music playing and bass pumping through multiple speakers. He recognised the song as that _“Hey Baby (Drop it to the Floor)”_ one by the guy whose name was a dog breed of some description (he never paid attention to artist’s names that played on the radio). Pavel grabbed for his hand and led him through the club, following the rest of the group through to where the bar was. He rolled his eyes at Jim who was pretty much already dancing, an arm in the air, fist pumping along to the beat of the song.

 

It was dimly lit inside the club with a bunch of interchanging lights, giving Leonard brief moments of clear vision of his surroundings. God, he hated places like this. There were way too many people, too, all dancing up against each other, or squished up together by the walls and the bar. They barely all fit standing there, Jim trying to shout his orders at the young girl working behind the counter. Pavel gestured at Leonard as if to ask if he wanted a drink, and he firmly shook his head no. Pavel just shrugged and took the shot of what looked like vodka that Jim handed him. Everyone else seemed to be having one, too. Oh, fantastic, he was going to be the only sober one tonight.

 

Pavel shouted into his ear. “Will you dance with us? Jim and Nyota would like to,”

 

“Uh, no thanks,” he replied just as loud. “I’ll watch.”

 

Pavel gave him the “puppy dog” look. “Oh _please_ , Leo?”

 

“Maybe later,”

 

Pavel seemed to accept this, smiling at Leonard and giving his hand a quick squeeze before following Jim and Nyota out onto the dancefloor that was a few feet away. Spock was standing beside Leonard, arms crossed and looking equally as uncomfortable and unimpressed. He smirked at the other man whose lips curved upward slightly in return, before returning his gaze over to his two partners. Leonard mirrored the action, finding himself watching a rather amusing scene to say the least. Pavel was sandwiched in between Jim and Nyota, and “ _Bootylicious_ ” by Destiny’s Child was now playing. Nyota was grinding up against Pavel from behind, with Jim at the front. Leonard possibly would have felt jealousy if it wasn’t for the fact that both of them were apparently completely in love with Spock.

 

Pavel seemed to be having a great time, looking extremely happy whilst dancing and laughing at Jim who Leonard noticed had actually been over exaggerating in his dance moves, making his ‘grinding’ look utterly pretentious. When the song ended, Pavel squeezed himself out from between Jim and Nyota and headed back over to Leonard. He gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning to the girl behind the bar, seemingly ordering another drink and a shot. Leonard stared in amazement as the kid tossed his shot back with ease before chasing it with a glass of what appeared to be some type of whiskey. Must be the Russian in him. Christ.

 

Pavel stood beside him, nuzzling his shoulder. “You do not look like you are having fun!”

 

“Told you, not a fan of clubbing,” Leonard answered, feeling a bit nervous about the public display of affection.

 

“I can make it fun for you,” Pavel said into his ear, nipping his earlobe.

 

Leonard felt goosebumps on his arm and glanced at him. “Oh really, now?”

 

Pavel grinned with a nod, shifting so he was standing in front of Leonard, close enough so they were almost chest to chest. As a new song started to play, Pavel pressed himself up against Leonard and let his lips ghost over his jaw and then back up to his ear as he slowly rolled their hips together to the beat of the pop song playing.

 

 _It ain’t my fault  
You keep turning me on  
It ain’t my fault  
You got me so gone  
It ain’t my fault  
I’m not leaving alone  
__It ain’t my fault_  
_You keep turning me on_

 

  
Leonard felt his face burning. He knew they were in a queer friendly place, but he still couldn’t help but to feel a little nervous that someone might be staring at them and judging their actions right now. Willing himself to relax, he focused on Pavel again who had now taken Leonard’s hands and slipped them around to cup his ass as he continued to grind up against him very sexually. The lyrics, Leonard noticed, were entirely appropriate for the situation.

 

 _No, I can’t be responsible_  
_If I get you in trouble now_  
 _See, you’re too irresistible_  
 _Yeah, that’s for sure_  
  
_So if I put your hands_  
 _Where my eyes can’t see_  
 _Then you’re the one_  
 _Who’s got a hold on me_  
 _No, I can’t be responsible_  
 _It ain’t my fault_

 

Leonard could feel himself getting hard inside his jeans and was barely able to help himself when he moved one hand up to grasp the back of Pavel’s head and pull him into a very rough kiss. Pavel all but threw himself onto Leonard in response, rubbing their clothed erections together in time to the music. It was probably to look less suspicious, but Leonard was certain that anyone watching couldn’t be that stupid. Remembering they were in a public place, he pulled away from Pavel, breathing heavily.

 

“Christ, Pasha, you tryin’ to kill me?” He yelled into his ear.

 

“What about you? You should have seen the way you were watching me on the dancefloor! Your eyes were very… Hungry,”

 

Oh, Jesus, that’s embarrassing to say the least.

 

Pavel leaned into Leonard again. “Can we please go home?”

 

“We’ve barely been here for an hour!” Leonard exclaimed. “Jim’ll kill us if we leave now,”

 

Pavel pouted at him, the puppy-dog look returning shortly after. Oh, hell. Leonard couldn’t deny that he really wanted to take Pavel home right now, so he grabbed his hand and led them both over to Jim, Nyota and Spock (who had apparently joined them at some point). Jim grinned widely at the two of them when they approached him, glancing down at their adjoined hands before winking at Leonard who rolled his eyes.

 

He grabbed Jim’s shoulder, yelling into his ear. “We’re gonna head off!”

 

Jim looked far from impressed, mouth falling open in protest. “What! But we just got here!”

 

“You guys stay and have fun. Pavel wants to go home,” Leonard explained, giving Jim a look he hoped would explain the situation.

 

Apparently it did, because that famous shit-eating grin was suddenly in place. “Ohhhhh! Riiiiiight! Well, you better give me all of the details tomorrow! You owe me for ditching us!”

 

Leonard glared at him before waving at Nyota and Spock who were dancing together. They returned the gesture, and then Jim joined them before giving Leonard a slap on the back and another very broad grin. He tugged Pavel out of the club and onto the street, enjoying the cool air on his face and the ability to hear and think properly again. They smiled at each other momentarily before beginning the walk back to the apartment, hand in hand, completely silent but content within each other’s company.  

 

  

* * *

 

 

 

Back at Leonard’s apartment, Pavel still clinging tightly onto his hand, he led them through to his bedroom. It was the first time he had ever taken someone back to his room since the divorce – especially another man – and admittedly he was damn nervous.

 

Inside his bedroom, Leonard closed the door behind them and stood awkwardly for a minute, watching as Pavel inspected the interior: a plain double bed, chest of drawers, two nightstands, and some photos of Joanna about the place.

 

“What was it you said about my apartment?” Pavel grinned. “Bare? Much like your bedroom, it would seem,”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes. “Well as _you_ said, I don’t spend much time in here – unless I’m asleep,”

 

He watched Pavel begin to move around the room, examining the framed photographs, and went over to make himself comfortable on the bed against his pillows as he waited, toeing his shoes off in the process. When Pavel turned to look at Leonard, he smiled, slow and knowing, but stayed put.

 

“C’mere,” Leonard almost whispered, his voice low and husky.

 

Apparently not needing to be told twice, Pavel very quickly removed his shoes and crawled up to the centre of the bed, sitting back on his heels a few centimetres in front of Leonard. He reached out to stroke his fingers along the curve of Pavel’s jaw, smiling at he leaned into the gesture and stared at Leonard with those big doe-eyes of his. Not wasting anymore time, he sat up and leaned over to kiss Pavel firmly, trying to communicate his want for the younger man without words. Leonard was rewarded with a little muffled groan, and a hand curled into his hair.

 

They kissed for a while longer, Leonard hesitantly reaching out to unbutton Pavel’s shirt. This resulted in more urgency on Pavel’s behalf, slipping his tongue into Leonard’s mouth, causing him to shudder and moan. As he pulled the garment away from Pavel’s shoulders, he stopped kissing him for a moment to take in the sight before him. The kid was very obviously stunning in his nineteen-year-old youth. All of the running he did had kept him lean, showing off a very well-toned stomach. Leonard licked his lips at the gorgeous view in front of him and cautiously stretched his hand out to stroke Pavel’s abdomen.

 

“So damn beautiful,” he murmured. “All for me. Christ,”

 

Pavel blushed a little. “May I?” He asked, nodding at Leonard’s shirt.

 

Though nervous, he nodded and continued rubbing his hands over Pavel’s torso as he felt his own shirt being unbuttoned and then removed. He thought he heard a small moan when the article of clothing was tossed to the floor, and glanced at Pavel who was chewing his lip, eyes wide. He flattened his palms out against Leonard’s chest and stroked them delicately down to the top of his jeans.

 

“Leo, I… Wow,” he said, cheeks pink. “ _Takoy krasivyy_ …”

 

“English, Pasha,”

 

“ _’So handsome’_ , is what I said. And you are _certainly_ not old,”

 

Leonard cleared his throat. “Not quite as impressive as you, though,” he replied gruffly.

 

“You are joking? You have a _very_ nice body. I like it – a lot. Please. You will let me touch some more?”

 

Leonard swallowed, trying to ignore the flutter in his stomach, but nodded at Pavel and willed himself to relax when the kid moved forward and leant down to press his lips to Leonard’s chest. He stroked Pavel’s face as he kissed Leonard’s skin, mouth slowly moving down to a nipple and lapping at it with his tongue. Leonard’s breath hitched at the sensation, and he bit down hard on his lip as the sensitive nub was sucked on, the other being rubbed between two fingers. He was rock hard inside his jeans, and his mouth fell open when Pavel’s free hand was suddenly cupping him, massaging gently.

 

“Jesus, _fuck_ ,” he moaned.

 

Pavel stopped for a moment. “This is okay, Len?”

 

“Y-yeah,” Leonard answered shakily, mostly from arousal. “Haven’t really done this before, though…”

 

Pavel kissed him on the mouth. “I am happy to teach you. If you say to stop, I stop. Please let me make you feel good,”

 

Well, Christ, he wasn’t about to say no to _that_. Leonard nodded his head once in answer, and Pavel smiled, continuing to squeeze at his erection through his jeans. He moaned quietly, feeling vulnerable and slightly embarrassed by his own sounds. It had been so long since someone had touched him in this way. In fact, Jim had been the last person to do so. He felt his face colour at the memory, and tried to push the thoughts away and focus on Pavel who was now unbuttoning his jeans and pulling the zipper down.

 

He stared up at Leonard, eyes lustful. “Do you want me to keep going?”

 

“Please,” Leonard said a little too desperately.

 

Pavel kissed him again, licking into his mouth as he slipped his fingertips beneath the waistband of Leonard’s underwear, pulling them up and over his hard cock. Leonard felt himself blush hard as he was fully exposed to another person for the first time in four years – and even longer completely sober. Pavel however, had probably seen a lot of penises and pleased plenty of other men. Leonard was suddenly feeling very inadequate.

 

“Pasha, I… This is my first time doing this sober,” he murmured.

 

Pavel licked his lips. “Is okay, Leo. Try to relax – and let me help you with this,” he said, wrapping a hand around Leonard’s cock.

 

Pavel began to rub Leonard, kissing him hard and making these hungry little noises. He panted into the kid’s mouth, unwillingly bucking into his hand, desperate for some more friction. He was trying really hard to keep quiet, but Pavel was so damn good at this and another small moan escaped him.

 

“Len, I want to hear you,” Pavel said against his lips. “Please moan for me, do not be embarrassed. I _want_ you to be loud,”

 

As he said this, he gently pushed at Leonard so he would lay down on his back. He stared down at Pavel nervously as he crawled in between Leonard’s legs, tugging his pants down his thighs for better access. He jacked Leonard’s cock again, slowly, watching him. Leonard could now clearly see the hard bulge jutting out against Pavel’s jeans.

 

“ _Leonid_ ,” he said, accent thicker than usual in his arousal. “You will let me suck you?”

 

 _Jesus Christ_. “Yes, Pasha, _please_ ,” he moaned in reply.

 

Pavel cursed under his breath – in what Leonard thought must be Russian – before leaning down to grasp the base of Leonard’s cock. He skilfully drew the foreskin back and licked up the underside all the way to the top, before sucking the head into his mouth. _Holy shit_. The kid was good; definitely experienced. Leonard wasn’t sure if he felt jealous by this, or incredibly grateful. He decided to go with the latter, because suddenly Pavel was _deep-throating_ him like a damn _pro_. Where the hell had he learned to do that? He was swallowing Leonard’s cock like it was a freaking walk in the park. He moaned. Loud. He could feel heat pooling in his stomach and tugged on Pavel’s curls in warning that he would probably come soon.

 

“Fuck, Pasha, so close,”

 

Pavel whined around him in response, and then he watched in awe as the kid expertly continued to suck him whilst unbuttoning his jeans to reach into his boxers. Holy fuck. He gazed down at Pavel as he jerked himself off in time with the movements of his mouth, breathing heavily through his nose. It only took a few more moments of watching the kid get himself off before Leonard could feel himself beginning to come. He moaned, loud and deep. As he felt himself start to spurt, Pavel lifted his mouth from him and Leonard watched his come splatter all over the kid’s face, and _fuck_ was it hot. He panted desperately, trying to sit up so he could gain a better view as he heard Pavel reaching his own orgasm. He watched as the kid whined and groaned, hand inside his underwear moving quickly, a damp patch starting to show. Christ in Heaven.

 

Pavel sighed heavily, smiling up at Leonard despite the mess on his face. He reached up to swipe some of the semen before licking it off his finger – it was like something out of a damn porno. “Leo, you taste good. Next time I will let you finish in my mouth,”

 

Leonard chewed his lip at the thought. “Jesus… Here – let me clean that up for you,”

 

He quickly sat up and reached over to his nightstand for some tissues, then pulled Pavel closer to him so he could wipe the come off his face. Leonard grabbed another handful to clean himself up a bit more, and passed the box to Pavel for his own hand and underwear. He watched as Pavel slipped off the bed to completely remove the rest of his clothes, cleaning himself properly, and blushed a bit at the sight. He pulled his own pants back up as if that would make him feel less embarrassed. (It didn’t).

 

“Len, could I borrow some clean underwear?” Pavel asked sheepishly.

 

He nodded. “Sure, top drawer over there on the right,”

 

Pavel went over to get some and pulled on a pair of navy blue briefs that were a little too big for him. He turned to face Leonard, looking hesitant. “So… I shall go back to my own apartment now?”

 

“Uh-uh,” Leonard shook his head, holding an arm out. “You get back over here, darlin’,”

 

Pavel blushed and went to scoot up beside him. “When would you like me to go?” He asked, curling his arms around Leonard’s middle and resting his cheek on his chest.

 

“Sometime tomorrow will be fine,”

 

“You want me to stay the night?” Pavel asked, looking up at him with those ever-questioning eyes.

 

Leonard clung to him, kissing his forehead. “Only if you want to,”

 

“ _Da_ , very much,”

 

Leonard smiled happily and pulled the duvet down to encourage Pavel to get under the covers. He quickly got up to change into some cotton pyjama pants before returning to the bed, slipping under the blankets and laying down with Pavel in his arms. They were both exhausted, cuddling together with heavy lids, but still gazing at each other. Pavel leaned in to kiss Leonard very gently before curling into his chest, sighing heavily and relaxing against him. Feeling overly content, Leonard closed his eyes and went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Hopefully my use of "so handsome" in Russian translates correctly.  
> \- Writing that little McKirk bit was actually my first time writing them! I hope it was alright.  
> \- The iPhone purchase was inspired by a McKirk fic I read once about Jim working in an Apple store, and Leonard always coming in because he doesn't understand how to use his phone haha. "Man gets angry at cloud" sort of idea. Bless him.  
> \- Bless poly!Jim, Spock, and Uhura honestly. I'm so glad I made that a thing. And damn, isn't Spock a lucky man!?  
> \- The lyrics I used in the club scene were from the song "Ain't My Fault" by Zara Larsson. I highly recommend you listen to it and re-imagine the dancing between Pavel and Leonard.  
> \- And! Hooray! Finally! Some! McChekov! Slash! (Hope you liked it hehe).


	6. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leonard comes to terms with some scary feelings and he and Pavel share some more firsts together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!  
> I'm so sorry that it's been like 8 months since I updated this story.  
> I've been writing this chapter most of that time on and off.  
> But, it IS finally finished! And I do have some more chapters planned.  
> Thanks for sticking around (if you read this), I really appreciate it.  
> Most of this chapter is McChekov related, purely because I wanted an excuse to write some.  
> It's rated E for Explicit parts! Enjoy ;)

When Leonard felt himself awakening the next morning, he was certain of two things. One, he was in his own bed. Good. Two, there was somebody else in the bed with him. Possibly not good? For some reason, despite not having had anything to drink the night before, he felt disorientated as if he were hungover. He cracked an eyelid to quickly glance at the digital clock to discover it was almost noon. Ah, that would explain his feeling of grogginess; he had slept for way too long.

 

As his body slowly woke completely, Leonard became conscious of the fact that there was a heavy weight on his left arm. Wiping his eyes with his free hand, he opened them to glance at the person in his bed. Still sleeping peacefully was Pavel laying on Leonard’s arm, slightly curled into him with his hands tucked up near his chin. His lips were parted, just barely, and his curls fell so damn cutely over his forehead that Leonard couldn’t resist but to reach out and gently brush them out of the way. It felt almost dreamlike as he suddenly recalled the night before; taking Pavel home and spending the night with him.

 

The curly-haired Russian stirred slightly, eyes blinking open. He smiled wearily at Leonard. “Good morning,” he murmured.

 

“Barely,” 

 

Leonard smiled back, stroking a thumb down Pavel’s cheek. He grasped his chin between his fingers as they shifted closer so their mouths could meet more comfortably. Pavel immediately moaned into their kiss, pressing his lips harder against Leonard’s before bringing his hand up to grasp a bunch of his hair. Leonard felt his cock stirring in his boxers and let out a harsh breath when Pavel shuffled just close enough so their erections would brush together.

 

Cautiously, Leonard reached down to grasp the firmness of Pavel’s briefs. “My turn?” He murmured huskily.

 

“ _Pozhaluysta,_ ” Pavel whimpered; a plea.

 

Feeling nervous, Leonard decided to take things slow. He gently licked Pavel’s lip before languidly sliding his tongue into the younger man’s mouth, kissing him passionately. Pavel responded with a desperate mewl, his youthful lust having clearly taken over, making him press up against Leonard’s dick, shamelessly grinding into it. With a moan, he reached into Pavel’s briefs and gave his cock a squeeze before pulling it out completely. 

 

Leonard buried his face into Pavel’s neck, lapping at the sensitive skin just below his jawline. “Tell me what you want, darlin’,” 

 

“Mm, please, Leo,” he groaned, wrapping his arms around Leonard’s neck. “Use your mouth on me,”

 

Just as Leonard started kissing down Pavel’s neck to his collarbone, a very loud vibrating sound filled the room causing them both to jump. With a defeated groan, Pavel slowly pushed away from Leonard and sat up in the bed as he reached over for his cell phone on top of the bedside table. He swiped the screen and held the phone to his ear.

 

“ _Sorry!_ ” He mouthed silently to Leonard, a pained expression on his face. “Hello?” Pavel spoke to his caller.

 

Leonard simply smiled in return and shook his head, assuring Pavel that it wasn’t his fault. He ignored the throbbing inside of his boxer shorts and slipped out of bed to walk into his ensuite with every intention of taking the biggest piss ever. As much as he would have preferred to finish off what had been started, Leonard didn’t think it would be overly polite with Pavel on the phone mere metres away.

 

When he had finished his business, Leonard reentered his bedroom to see Pavel standing and half dressed. Something important must have come up. Leonard couldn’t help but to feel immensely disappointed that their previous actions were not going to be continued, despite knowing Pavel wouldn’t be getting ready to leave unless it were something dire.

 

“You uh, you goin’?” Leonard asked.

 

Pavel buttoned his shirt. “I am so sorry, Leo. Hikaru and Ben needed a last-minute babysitter and I promised when Demora was born I would always be available to them.”

 

“That’s okay. You head off. Totally understand,”

 

Leonard gave him a small smile and continued to stand awkwardly by his bathroom door. Pavel could obviously sense his nerves. He stepped over and brought his hands to Leonard’s hips, pressing denim jeans against cotton boxers. Pavel leaned up and pushed his lips firmly to Leonard’s, grasping a handful of his ass in frankly a rather possessive manner. Leonard had to bite down on Pavel’s lip to stop the moan wanting to escape.

 

Pavel pulled away and brushed his mouth against Leonard’s ear. “ _Ya tak khochu tebya,_ ” he murmured.

 

It made him shudder. “What the hell does that mean?” 

 

With a cheeky grin, Pavel turned away and went to retrieve his wallet. “Ah, you will just have to wait and see,”

 

“Damn it, Pasha, you don’t tell an old man somethin’ in Russian and not translate afterwards!”

 

Pavel was walking out of the bedroom and Leonard followed him all the way to the front door. He still wasn’t getting an answer and admitted defeat when Pavel stepped outside, giving Leonard one last heated kiss before leaving completely. With a huff, he closed the door behind him and headed back to his bedroom to get dressed. As he pulled clean jeans on, Leonard’s phone chimed with a text message on the dresser. He went to open it.

 

 **Pavel Chekov [12:17pm]  
** _"Translation: I want you so badly.”_

 

Leonard felt his mouth twitch into a small grin. He typed a reply:

 

 **Leonard > Pavel [12:19pm]  
** _Got a funny way of showin it_

 

 **Pavel > Leonard [12:20pm]  
** _I promise I will make it up to you, Leo ;)_

 

Leonard rolled his eyes at the use of the winky-face emoticon and pocketed his phone. He had barely made it to the kitchen when the text message alert sounded again. 

 

 **Pavel > Leonard [12:24pm]  
** _You should come over tonight after I am done with my babysitting. We can continue?_

 

 **Leonard > Pavel [12:27pm]**  
_Ok. Txt me when ur done_

 

Right. Now that he was done texting with Pavel, Leonard really needed to get started on some household chores so the apartment would be ready for Joanna tomorrow. He made a mental checklist in his head: the dirty laundry; cleaning Joanna’s bathroom; and quite possibly a trip to the store for school lunch essentials. 

 

Leonard opened the pantry, beginning to figure out what foods he was low on, when he heard a key turn in the lock of the front door. He rolled his eyes; it could only mean one thing. 

 

“Bones! You home?”   

 

Leonard sighed and crossed his arms as Jim entered the kitchen. “Why did I ever give you that damn spare key?”

 

“Well, hello to you too, Mr-Grumpy-Pants.” Jim was grinning. “I don’t think that’s quite the welcome I deserve after you _heartlessly_ _abandoned_ me last night!”

 

“Don’t be such an infant,” Leonard scoffed. “You had Spock and Nyota with you!”

 

“Yeah, and we had a _great_ time without you, by the way!”

 

“Good to hear,”

 

Jim went to the fridge and helped himself to a can of coke before taking a seat at the breakfast bar. He stared at Leonard, smirking as he sipped his drink, clearly waiting for all the details of the night before. Well, Leonard certainly wasn’t going to spill the beans quite that easily; he would make Jim wait as long as he could.

 

“... So?” Jim finally spoke.

 

Leonard shrugged. “So?”

 

“Oh, come on, man.” Jim shook his head. “Don’t play dumb. I told you I would be expecting details for deserting me!”

 

“Details of what?”

 

“You know what! You and Pavel!”

 

“What about us?” Leonard tried to fight a smirk as he watched Jim grow frustrated.

 

He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Bones, please! Just tell me already!”

 

“Why you wanna know so badly?”

 

“Because I’m your best friend! It’s my God given right to know about your personal life! _Especially_ when it involves you taking young Russian guys to bed,”

 

Leonard scowled. “In a pig’s eye it is!”

 

“Ugh, fine, don’t tell me,” Jim grumbled. “But don’t think I won’t remember this!”

 

With a chuckle, Leonard decided he had tortured his poor friend enough and moved to the kitchen counter so he could lean on it in front of Jim. A small smile started to form as he let his mind wander to the events of both last night and this morning. He was pretty damn lucky to have such a gorgeous, young boyfriend. The grin he was fighting suddenly fully bloomed at the use of the word ‘boyfriend’.

 

“Took him back here. To my room,” Leonard said. 

 

Jim perked up instantly. “Yeah? And?!”

 

“And we uh, well, we... Had fun,”

 

“Yeah but are we talking ‘played board games’ fun, or ‘sexual’ kinda fun?”

 

Leonard rolled his eyes. “So nosy. If you must know, it was the latter,”

 

Jim grinned widely. “Nice! What was it like? You blow him?”

 

Leonard blushed a little. “No, but... He did me,”

 

“And was he any good?”

 

“He was real good, Jim. Best blowjob I’ve ever had,”

 

Jim laughed heartily as he got up to place his empty soft drink can onto the sink. He clapped a hand on Leonard’s back and the two leaned on the counters together, sharing more details with each other. Apparently, Spock had gone home with Nyota instead of Jim last night. Leonard really didn’t understand how Jim never got jealous by all of this.

 

“And that really didn’t bother you?” He asked, surprised. “You didn’t mind Spock took his girlfriend home instead of you?”

 

“Why should I? It’s an open relationship, dude. This stuff is the whole point,” Jim shrugged.

 

Leonard crossed his arms. “I couldn’t imagine ever sharin’ Pavel. God, just the idea of someone else touchin’ him...” He felt his teeth clench.

 

“Whoa, someone’s a bit attached already,” 

 

“No, I’m just monogamous,”

 

Jim scoffed. “Please, Bones; you’re in so deep and you know it,”

 

“Can we not talk about this?” Leonard looked away.

 

Silence fell upon them momentarily. Leonard could feel a sensation like anxiety bubbling in his chest from the conversation topic. To admit he was attached to Pavel meant he was also admitting to the idea of falling for him as well. The very idea scared the absolute crap out of Leonard. He hadn’t loved someone since Pamela, let alone another man. This was all still so new to him and things were moving so damn fast. He wished he could just put on the handbrake, so to speak; slow things down.

 

“You know, Bones... It’s okay. It’s okay to be scared,” Jim said quietly.

 

Leonard’s head shot up. “Scared? The hell have I got to be scared for?”

 

“Caring for someone new? _Loving_ someone new? I’d say that’s pretty scary,”

 

“Don’t pull your psychology crap on me,”

 

Jim reached out to squeeze his arm. “Not pulling anything, Bones, just being a friend,”

 

Leonard didn’t respond straight away. Even after being friends with Jim for 12 years, talking about his feelings was certainly not a hobby of Leonard’s to say the least. Opening up to absolutely anyone made him feel incredibly weak and vulnerable. He blew out a sigh but didn't loosen his crossed arms and nor did he look at Jim.

 

“Alright, I’m scared,” Leonard admitted quietly. “In fact, I’m darn terrified,”

 

“And what is it that terrifies you exactly?”

 

“What do you mean what terrifies me? Jim, the kid is nineteen. I’ve already been married once and had a kid. I don’t want somethin’ short term. I wanna settle down. Think a college kid wants to settle down? I highly doubt it,”

 

Jim shrugged. “I guess that’s true. But maybe Pavel is different? One of those old souls,”

 

Leonard shook his head. “No. No, I can’t let this keep goin’. He’s got college, and his band, and his group. A thirty-year-old doctor with a kid isn’t what he wants right now. He’ll realise that soon enough and he’ll leave me. He’ll get bored,”

 

“Bones, relax. You’re getting way ahead of yourself here.”

 

“No, Jim. I’m goin’ over there. He and I need to talk about this,”

 

Leonard pushed past Jim heading out of his apartment and over to Pavel’s. He knocked twice before the door opened. Pavel was wearing sweats and holding a baby dressed in pink, looking pleasantly surprised at Leonard’s impromptu visit. He smiled brightly, adjusting the weight of the baby on his hip.  
  
  
  
“Leo, come in,” he said hurriedly.  
  
  
  
Feeling nervous as all hell, Leonard followed Pavel through to his small living area. He took a seat on the sofa as he watched Pavel very gently place the baby – _Demora_ , he reminded himself – down onto her back on a large duvet on the floor. He tickled her tummy a few times before standing and joining Leonard on the sofa. Pavel placed a hand on his knee in an affectionate hello.

 

“I am surprised to see you, Leo. I will probably not be finished babysitting until this evening.”

 

Leonard swallowed. “Yeah, I uh… I just needed to talk to ya,”

 

Pavel squeezed his knee, looking concerned. “Is something wrong?”

 

“Shit, I’m so bad at this… kid, we gotta stop… this,”

 

“This?” Pavel repeated, obviously upset. “You are meaning us?”

 

Leonard felt a lump in his throat. “Yeah… I’m real sorry,”

 

Pavel took his hand away and turned his head for a moment. When he looked back, his eyes were visibly wet with tears. Leonard felt like he had been stabbed in the chest. Maybe Pavel _did_ care about their relationship. But he was convinced that his decision was for the best.  
  
  
  
“Why are you doing this? Because I am nineteen?” Pavel asked, arms crossed.

 

Leonard nodded contritely. It wasn’t the full truth, but it was the most believable reason.

 

“That is so unfair, Leonid.” Pavel’s voice rose a little. “You knew I was nineteen. You said yes to going on a date with me. You flirted back. You kissed me. You took me home. You knew how old I was.”

 

“It was a mistake. I know that now,”

 

Pavel shook his head. “You are lying. Last night did not feel like a mistake to me. Or this morning. I know what we both felt,”

 

Leonard crossed his arms defensively. “You got no idea how I feel,”

 

“Then tell me,” Pavel said urgently. “Let me fix it.”

 

“It’s just easier this way! You’ll only get bored of me,”

 

Pavel looked offended. “Bored? How could I be bored?”

 

Leonard sighed. “You’re too young, I’m too old; you’ll get bored.”

 

“Leonid, I am in love with you.” Pavel blushed deeply. “I will not get bored,”

 

Leonard was shocked. He felt his eyes beginning to grow moist and the lump in his throat was threatening real tears. Pavel didn’t love him. He couldn’t. Why would he? Leonard glanced away.  
  
  
  
“You’re not in love with me,”

 

“Yes, I am.” Pavel grasped his hand. “Leo, I love you.”

 

As he was about to face Pavel again, Demora began to cry from her place on the duvet. Pavel stood immediately to go and pick her up, holding her to his chest and patting her back soothingly, murmuring to her. He picked up a pacifier from the coffee table and encouraged her to take it in her mouth.

 

Leonard suddenly felt incredibly awkward and rude for being there. “I uh, I should get goin’ and let you babysit,” he said, getting to his feet.

 

Pavel looked concerned. “But you will still see me this evening when I am finished?”

 

“Yeah… Yeah I'll come back. Just text me. Uh, I'm real sorry for bargin’ in on you like this… I'll see ya later,”

 

Leonard was so embarrassed by the situation that he could barely look at Pavel. He attempted a tight smile before making a swift escape back to the front door and practically hurling himself out into the hallway. What a mess that had turned out to be.

 

Once back inside his own apartment, Leonard attempted to busy himself with the housework he knew needed to be done, starting with the main bathroom. Thankfully, it didn't take him too long as Joanna was quite a clean person, and surprisingly didn't leave behind much of a mess for an eleven-year-old girl.

 

He then decided to start on the laundry, filling up the basket with Joanna’s dirty clothes before heading to his own bedroom. As he reached the clothes hamper, he noticed a pair of small, grey briefs sitting on top of the woven lid. Leonard picked them up and saw the white stained patch on the front of them and instantly felt a blush creep up his neck. They were Pavel’s underwear from last night. He chucked them into the washing basket amongst his own dirty clothes and headed down to the laundry room.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Leonard was at the supermarket when his phone vibrated in his pocket with a loud ‘ _ding ding_ ’. He checked his phone to see a message from Pavel:

 

 **Pavel > Leonard [4:12pm]:  
** _I am finished with my babysitting. Will you still come over?_

 

He swiped his phone open and held his hands poised over the screen as he thought of a reply.

 

 **Leonard > Pavel [4:14pm]:  
** _Be there soon. Just at the store._

 

Leonard came to a stop in the frozen foods aisle and studied the selection of different ice-creams in front of him. He wanted to surprise Pavel with some vegan ice-cream as an apology for earlier that day, but he had no clue what he was even looking for. He stared at the frozen treats for what seemed like an hour trying desperately to find one vegan ice-cream, when finally, he spotted two of the same brand in both chocolate and vanilla flavour. Leonard took them both from the freezer and double checked they were vegan before placing them into his shopping basket and heading to the checkout to pay.

 

On the drive back to the apartments, Leonard felt incredibly nervous. Having to face Pavel after what happened today wasn’t going to be easy. He would have questions; questions that Leonard didn’t feel entirely ready to answer. But Pavel had also confessed that he was in love with Leonard, and that at least did calm his nerves a little bit. He was now feeling slightly more convinced that the younger man did want to stick around for the long run.

 

Leonard stood at Pavel’s door ten minutes later, shopping bag under his arm and fist poised at the door ready to knock. After a few moments of self-encouragement, he finally let his knuckles wrap on the door and waited to be let in. Pavel looked tired when the door opened. He was still dressed in lazy clothes and his mop of curls had remained uncombed. He offered Leonard a small smile and stood aside to let him in.

 

In the living area, Leonard placed the paper bag down onto the coffee table. “Pasha, I’m real sorry about today. I’m a bit of a mess right now. I know it’s not much, but I got ya some vegan ice-cream as an apology,” he said bashfully.

 

“Thank you,” Pavel answered, taking the ice-cream to his kitchen and presumably into the freezer.

 

When he returned, he walked up to Leonard and stared at him for a moment. Ah, shit. He’s blown it. Why did he have to go and have a meltdown today? Now Pavel has probably decided it’s best to just break up like Leonard originally suggested. But he was suddenly wrapped in a tight hug, Pavel nestling his face into Leonard’s chest. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

 

“So sorry, honey,” Leonard murmured, returning the embrace.

 

Pavel pulled away to look at him. “Is okay. We will eat the ice-cream in bed and talk about it, yes?”

 

Leonard nodded. “Sounds good to me,”

 

They went and got the ice-cream and a spoon each before heading to Pavel’s bedroom. It was the first time Leonard had ever been in there since they never seemed to venture away from the couch. Inside, he was unsurprised by the general messiness. There was a white desk in one corner covered in text books; a double mattress on the floor with no frame; a walk-in-robe; dozens of records piled onto each other all over the floor; notebooks strewn everywhere; band posters on the wall; and his new laptop charging by the makeshift bed. That, however, was at least neatly made with a fitted sheet, plain grey comforter, and a total of six pillows. Leonard smirked. Pavel _was_ a cuddler and so the excess pillows came as no surprise.

 

“Well your room certainly isn’t _bare_ like mine, huh?” He teased.

 

Pavel plonked himself down onto the mattress and opened the ice-cream. “I am, how you say, a bit of a whirlwind in my bedroom,” he answered, blushing a little.

 

Getting down onto the mattress was a small struggle. Leonard felt his knees aching as they bent down low to sit beside Pavel on the bed. They were getting him a bed frame as soon as humanly possible. There was no way Leonard could climb down onto the mattress several nights a week.

 

“Need to get you a frame for the mattress,” Leonard grumbled. “I’m an old man, remember,”

 

Pavel handed him a spoon. “You are not that old, Leo. But if you insist I must, then I shall,”

 

Leonard took a small scoop of the soy ice-cream and ate it. The taste wasn't terrible, but he admittedly didn't want to eat any more of it. He placed the spoon down onto the bed and watched as Pavel helped himself to generous amounts of the chocolate flavoured treat.

 

“You really like your sweets, huh?”

 

Pavel nodded, eating another spoonful. “Sugar is very addictive. You do not like this?”

 

“Uh, it's okay. Not my favourite, I’ll admit,”

 

“You do not have to keep eating it. I am happy to have it to myself,”

 

Leonard grinned. “I'll bet you are,”

 

Pavel returned the smile sheepishly. “Are you ready to talk about today?”

 

The mattress was in a corner of the bedroom and so Pavel shifted his position so he was sitting against the wall away from the pillows. He eyed Leonard, continuing to spoon chocolate ice-cream into his mouth. Leonard took in a deep breath and exhaled before folding his hands into his lap. He tried his best to keep eye contact with Pavel but he was so damn nervous to express his feelings that his vision kept wandering away to anything _but_ Pavel.

 

“I just… I was overthinkin’. A lot. Jim came over and was talkin’ about feelin’s and all that and I just got overwhelmed by the possibility of you growin’ bored of me,” he finally said.

 

Pavel placed the ice-cream tub onto the floor beside Leonard and took his hand. “You really must not worry, Leo. What is it you are actually afraid of?”

 

“Today… You said… You’re in love… With me,”

 

“I did, yes. That has not changed. Are you worried it will?”

 

“’Course I am,”

 

“Why?”

 

“Pavel, you could have anyone you wanted. I mean, look at you. You’re this gorgeous, young thing with sweet little curls and bright green eyes. You’re cheerful and full of life and ambition. You have a bunch of hobbies and you’re sociable and fun to be around. You’re literally everything I’m not. So why the hell do you even want me? I’m just a grouch. I couldn’t keep my marriage alive, so what makes you think I can make you happy long enough to stick around? You couldn’t possibly want me. I’m far from good enough.”

 

Leonard realised he had started to cry. Tears were leaking freely from the corners of his eyes and he immediately hid his face in his arm, turning away from Pavel in embarrassment. He felt the mattress compress beneath him and Pavel was suddenly in front of him, enveloping him in a fierce hug. He squeezed Leonard tightly which only caused him to cry some more. He sniffled and Pavel pulled away to gently hold his face, brushing tears away with his thumbs.

 

“Leonid. You must listen to me. I have dated many men in my time, from a young age. I have fallen in love quite a few times now. But what I feel with you is different. Because you are different. You are special to me. Very. You are the most handsome man I have known. You are kind and you are gentle. You are loving and nurturing. You care about me and you take care of me. I have not had this before.

 

You can be grumpy, yes. But why should this matter? You have been through many hardships; I think you are entitled to a little bit of cynicism. You are a lot stronger than you think. You are more than enough for me.”

 

Leonard wiped at his eyes with the heel of his hand and sniffled one last time. Pavel was smiling gently at him, though his eyes were full of worry and sadness. God, this was embarrassing. Usually Leonard was good at keeping his emotions at bay, or rather, keeping them buried under the surface. He was feeling very vulnerable and self-conscious.

 

“You really mean all that?” Leonard asked, staring down at his hands.

 

Pavel kissed him on the forehead. “ _Da, malysh_. Every word,”

 

“Well, thanks, Pasha… I uh… I love you, too…”

 

“So we are not breaking up?”

 

Leonard shook his head and scooted back against the pillows, holding his arms open in an invitation. Pavel nestled into his embrace. “We’re not breakin’ up, sweetheart,” he said, kissing the top of Pavel’s head.

 

“Good. Does this mean we can continue from earlier today in your bed?”

 

Pavel glanced up at Leonard from his chest, green eyes wide with feigned innocence. He chuckled and leaned down to kiss the younger man, taking his face in his hands. Their kisses quickly became heated as they pushed and shoved against each other, pants and quiet moans filling the room.

 

Leonard soon worked up the courage to gently push Pavel down onto his back so he could bury his face into his neck, suckling at the skin by his collarbone. Pavel whimpered, jerking his hips up in arousal; a silent plea. Reaching down, Leonard granted him his wish and rubbed his palm over Pavel’s very hard erection. He gasped loudly, making his mouth fall from Leonard’s.

 

“ _Pozhaluysta_ – please! Please, Leo!” He begged.

 

Before he could chicken out, Leonard crawled down the bed and in-between Pavel’s knees, tugging his sweats from his legs. Pavel was still wearing the navy-blue boxer briefs Leonard had given him the night before and they now had a tell-tale wet patch on the front. Leonard licked his lips and reached under the waistband of the underwear, pulling them up and over Pavel’s cock, causing it to bounce against his belly.

 

“Want me to blow you?” Leonard asked, his voice husky.

 

Pavel bit his lip and nodded. “Are you going to make me beg?”

 

Leonard laughed and shook his head. “Haven't done this before,”

 

“Is okay. I am very sure I will like it,”

 

With a grin, he took Pavel in his hand and slowly leaned down whilst jacking his cock. His lover moaned generously, bucking into his hand for more friction. Leonard finally gave him what he wanted and experimentally sucked the head of Pavel’s erection into his mouth, swirling his tongue over the frenulum. He immediately felt hands curl into his hair and tug which made him smile smugly. Pavel thrust his hips up slightly, encouraging Leonard to take more into his mouth. He did so and was rewarded with desperate whimpers and moans.

 

Pavel stroked his fingers through Leonard’s hair. “ _Da, da_ … So good…”

 

Leonard picked up the pace, hollowing his cheeks and sucking up and down as hard as he could, massaging Pavel’s cock with his lips and tongue. He could feel Pavel’s legs trembling beneath him; he must be growing close. God, this was so hot. Leonard’s cock was throbbing inside his jeans. He was honestly surprised that he was enjoying giving head so much. He almost didn’t want Pavel to come so he could keep going a while longer.

 

“Leo! Need to stop… I will… Going to… In your mouth,” Pavel babbled, panting heavily.

 

If he thought Leonard was going to stop for that reason he was very mistaken. He slid his lips up and down as fast as he could whilst simultaneously rubbing Pavel’s cock, hearing himself moan as Pavel trembled even harder. He gripped hard onto Leonard’s hair, whimpering profanities in Russian as he thrust up into his mouth. When Pavel started to squirt, Leonard was taken a little by surprise and jumped back, causing the remainder of Pavel’s come to catch on his lips and chin. Pavel was watching him, mouth hanging open, chest panting. Leonard smiled faintly and swallowed the semen in his mouth disdainfully. Weird texture and taste.

 

Pavel sat up looking a little sheepish. “I would apologise but you look very attractive with my come on your face,” he said bluntly.

 

Leonard chuckled. “I guess we’re even since I did the same to you,”

 

Pavel blushed and shrugged. He shuffled around on the mattress so he could pull his sweats and underwear off completely before passing the boxer briefs to Leonard who raised an eyebrow.

 

“For the mess?”

 

Leonard made a face but reluctantly took the garment and began wiping the come from his chin before passing it back to Pavel for his own clean up. As he watched his lover, Leonard was very conscious of his still quite hard erection but wasn’t sure if he felt comfortable enough to indicate he wouldn’t mind being taken care of as well. He shifted uncomfortably, hoping Pavel would notice. He did.

 

“Come, Leo, lay with me.” He smiled.

 

Leonard did so, the two of them on their sides, facing each other. Pavel leaned in to kiss him gently and he felt his cock being squeezed over the denim of his pants. Leonard exhaled sharply, grinding into Pavel’s hand with a pleading moan. His lover was hasty in his actions, pushing Leonard’s jeans down and freeing his erection. Pavel jacked him off quickly and expertly, leaving Leonard a panting, quivering mess after he had rather embarrassingly reached orgasm in less than a few minutes.

 

He used the underwear to clean up again and Pavel suddenly stood, completely pantless. Leonard almost felt embarrassed at the sight of his nineteen-year-old boyfriend walking around with his now flaccid cock bouncing around. His bashfulness was relieved when Pavel opened his wardrobe and found a clean pair of boxers, pulling them on.

 

He quickly joined Leonard back on the bed, climbing under the covers. “You know, you are quite good for a beginner,” he said cheekily.

 

“It’s not rocket science.” Leonard rolled his eyes, but felt secretly pleased.

 

He got under the comforter beside Pavel and gathered him into his arms, stroking along his jawline. His lover sighed contently and grazed his lips against Leonard’s neck, nuzzling him affectionately. Leonard could have fallen asleep but a familiar, loud vibrating sound filled the room that was coming from beside the mattress. Pavel sighed and reached over for his phone on the floor. As the screen came into view, Leonard noticed the caller ID as “мамочка” – his mother. Pavel hesitated before swiping across to answer it.

 

“ _Privet, Mama_ ,” he greeted in Russian, his voice tired.

 

Leonard pointed to himself and then the door, silently asking Pavel if he wanted to be alone for his phone call. Pavel gave him a weak smile before shaking his head. He could very faintly hear a woman speaking rapidly in Russian coming from the speaker of Pavel’s phone. She also sounded like she might be angry or upset. Leonard suddenly felt uncomfortable.

 

“ _Znayu, Mama, izvinite_.” Pavel wiped a hand over his face.    
  
  
  
Leonard had no idea what he was saying; the Russian he knew wasn’t even basic. He knew how to say ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, and he knew the different words used for mother and father. He had also picked up on the word for ‘Please’ thanks to Pavel. Otherwise, he was literally clueless with that language. He felt maybe he should change that if he was going to date a Russian.   
  
  
  
“ _Sleduyushchaya nedelya_?” Pavel asked, voice pained. “ _Da, Mama. Ladno. Lyublyu tebya_ ,”   
  
  
  
He hung up the phone with a sigh and tossed it to the end of his bed. Leonard wasn’t entirely sure how to respond, so he cautiously reached for Pavel’s hand who allowed him to take it. With another sigh, he seemed to get a hold of himself and smiled properly at Leonard.   
  
  
  
“Sorry about that,” he apologised.   
  
  
  
Leonard shrugged. “No problem. You okay?”   
  
  
  
“ _Da_ – yes. My Mama is coming to visit next week. She had wanted to come with me when I moved to help, but I declined and told her she could come a week or more after I had settled in. She is upset because I still have not invited her to,”   
  
  
  
“Uh, I see. You don’t seem too keen about this…”   
  
  
  
“Ah, _nyet_. I am not. Mama and I have a complicated relationship. She does not recognise my sexuality. I have told her I am gay five different times and she will not accept it,”   
  
  
  
Leonard nodded. “I’m sorry, Pasha. Must be frustratin’,”   
  
  
  
“It is,” Pavel agreed. “Which is why I would like you to meet her. In the past I would never introduce my boyfriends because I knew she would ignore it. This time I do not want her to ignore it; I have had enough.”   
  
  
  
“Uh, okay. Makes me a little nervous, but I’ll meet her. So, you don’t call her… ‘ _Mamochka’?_ Like on your phone?”   
  
  
  
Pavel blushed. “That is how you would say ‘Mommy’ in English, like a child. She insisted I save her name as that in my phone. I will usually call her ‘Mama’, meaning ‘Mom’,”    
  
  
  
“Right, okay.” Leonard went over this in his head, coming to an understanding. “Growin’ up for me it was always ‘Momma’ and ‘Daddy’, so I don’t really know any different. I expect Joanna will still call me ‘Daddy’ even after high school,”   
  
  
  
“Is it not embarrassing for you to say ‘ _Mamochka_ ’ at your age?” Pavel looked surprised.    
  
  
  
“Nope. I love my Momma and I’ll always call her that. She’d kill me if I didn’t, anways,”   
  
  
  
“In Russia, we do not usually say it after reaching adolescence. Unless you are close with your Mama, then it is common. Or sometimes we will say ‘ _Mamulya_ ’, which is the same meaning. I stopped saying those when I told Mama I was gay and she told me I could not be gay in her house,”   
  
  
  
Leonard took this in before giving Pavel a hug. “She’ll come around. At least it sounds like she still loves you, wantin’ to come and help you move and pitchin’ a fit for not invitin’ her over sooner.”   
  
  
  
Pavel shrugged against Leonard’s chest. “She does love me, and I love her. Very much. I just wish she would love _all_ of me,”   
  
  
  
“What about your father?”    
  
  
  
Pavel was silent in Leonard’s arms for a moment. Yep, tender subject. He didn’t blame the kid, really. Leonard barely talked about his own father, for that matter. Just thinking about his old man made his chest pang with sadness and regret. He shook the thoughts from his head and cuddled Pavel closer to him, trying to provide comfort.    
  
  
  
“My Papa… He is not a bad man… He does his best with me. He has done a lot for me,” Pavel said quietly.    
  
  
  
Leonard felt his blood go cold. “Pasha… Did he hurt you?” He knew it wasn’t his business, but he couldn’t _not_ ask, either. Pavel was his boyfriend, after all.   
  
  
  
Pavel stiffened before glaring up at Leonard. “ _Nyet_. He has never touched me, never hit me, never beat me. He is not a bad man,”   
  
  
  
“Who’re you tryin’ to convince? Me? Or yourself?”   
  
  
  
Pavel pulled away and crossed his arms, staring hard at Leonard. “I am done talking about this,”   
  
  
  
Leonard sighed. Great. Now Pavel was pissed at him for sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong. He knew he was in the wrong, though, and very cautiously reached for his lover who made no moves to accept the gesture. Pavel continued to stare at him grumpily and Leonard rolled his eyes. Stubborn kid. He wrapped Pavel in a tight hug who almost immediately crumpled into him, his face scrunching up against Leonard’s shoulder.   
  
  
  
“S’okay, sweetheart, we don’t need to talk about it,” Leonard murmured.    
  
  
  
Pavel nodded into his chest. “Thank you, Leo, for understanding,”   
  
  
  
_You’re welcome, kid_. He thought. _I love you_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was enjoyable!  
> It took me so long to finish, but I think I'm happy with it.  
> Is anyone else looking forward to the dramas about to occur in this story? Because I know I'm keen to write them!  
> Please send me comments - I always appreciate feedback of any sort.  
> Hoping to put more characters in the next few chapters so it's not just Leonard/Pavel related the whole time.  
> Thanks again for reading!
> 
> Russian used (Google translate, so probably incorrect):  
> "Malysh" = baby (pet name). (I just thought it was super cute!)  
> "Privet, Mama," = Hi, Mom  
> "Znayu, Mama, izvinite," = I know, Mom, sorry  
> "Sleduyushchaya nedelya?" = Next week?  
> "Da, Mama. Ladno. Lyublyu tebya," = Yes, Mom. Okay. Love you
> 
> Also, the part I wrote about what Russians call their mothers etc (reaching adolescence) is fiction. Well, I have never heard of it, at least. I just know it's the more "tender" way of saying it, and in this fic I have made it so Pavel is not close with his mother. :)


End file.
